On his way out of a legislative session last week, Republican Tennessee state Rep. Micah Van Huss had an interesting encounter with a immigration protester holding his picture emblazoned with the hashtag #DreamKiller.
They were there to protest legislators, including Van Huss, opposed to the passage of HB 2429, which would grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens.
The encounter was documented by The Tennessean’s Joel Elbert via Twitter:
Happening now outside the @TNHouseReps chamber pic.twitter.com/YEurHzeIu4
— Joel Ebert (@joelebert29) April 5, 2018
This as well pic.twitter.com/lEfuDRq4Ib
— Joel Ebert (@joelebert29) April 5, 2018
The Daily Caller contacted the Tennessee representative to get the whole story.
“What the picture and video don’t show is them yelling in our faces,” Van Huss told The Daily Caller Monday as he described activists who were “rudely yelling and talking over them.”
Far from losing his cool, Van Huss listened to their concerns, but held his ground.
“I talked with the leaders of the protest, listened, asked questions, and told them I would prioritize Tennesseans for taxpayer funded benefits,” said Van Huss.
The conservative Tennessee lawmaker then asked the protester holding his picture if he could take a selfie with her, and posted it on his Facebook page with a note about who he feels should come before “illegal aliens.”
“Protesters visited the capitol today. I will always put my constituents before illegal aliens. My constituents come first!” Van Huss wrote in his Facebook post.
Finally, Van Huss asked the protester if he could sign his picture. She let him, but when he tried to hand it back they refused to take it.
The students just left after having a brief chat with Rep Mark White. Before they did @JimmyMatlockTN and Rep Micah Van Huss stepped out of the @TNHouseReps floor session. Matlock took a photo and Van Huss autographed his picture pic.twitter.com/0goAq3zoeh
— Joel Ebert (@joelebert29) April 5, 2018
