Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema scolded the activists who barged into Arizona State University and filmed her and her students while she was in the bathroom on Sunday.
Statement Following Events at ASU on Sunday pic.twitter.com/4d3BF9P8CO
— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) October 4, 2021
“After deceptively entering a locked, secure building, these individuals filmed and publicly posted videos of my students without their permission — including footage taken of both my students and I using a restroom,” Sinema said in a statement Monday.
Sinema, a lecturer at Arizona State University’s School of Social Work, is on the receiving end of wrath from many far-left groups and Democrats due to her opposition to the $3.5 trillion price tag of the Democrats’ go-it-alone sweeping budget reconciliation and social spending bill. In the evenly divided Senate, the legislation needs her vote to pass.
ACTIVISTS FOLLOW SINEMA INTO BATHROOM, VIDEOTAPE OUTSIDE HER BATHROOM STALL
In the video, activists from the far-left group Living United For Change asked Sinema for a “Build Back Better” plan and specifically mentioned a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants — a proposal that the Senate parliamentarian, not Sinema, has said cannot be included in the budget reconciliation proposal due to it being extraneous to budget matters. Sinema supports giving those who were brought to the United States as children a pathway to citizenship.
“We knocked on doors for you to get you elected, and just like how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don’t support what you promised us,” one activist said as Sinema walked into the bathroom and closed a stall door.
Sinema in her Monday statement stated her support for the First Amendment and the right of constituents to protest and noted that the activist group that confronted her is one both she and her Senate staff have met with “several times.”
“Yesterday’s behavior was not legitimate protest,” Sinema said. “It is unacceptable for activist organizations to instruct their members to jeopardize themselves by engaging in unlawful activities such as gaining entry to closed university buildings, disrupting learning environments, and filming students in a restroom.”
?BREAKING: Blanca, an AZ immigrant youth confronts @SenatorSinema inside her classroom, where she teaches @ ASU. “in 2010 both my grandparents got deported bc of SB1070…my grandfather passed away 2 wks ago & I wasn’t able to go to Mexico bc there is no pathway to citizenship.” pic.twitter.com/JDZYY2fOD2
— LUCHA Arizona (@LUCHA_AZ) October 3, 2021
Sinema expressed that she has aimed to create a “safe and intellectually challenging environment” for her students. “Yesterday, that environment was breached. My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized. This is wholly inappropriate,” Sinema said.
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She then appeared to take a swipe at her colleagues in Congress who fan the flames of confrontational activist styles.
“It is the duty of elected leaders to avoid fostering an environment in which honestly-held policy disagreements serve as the basis for vitriol and creating a permission structure for unacceptable behavior,” Sinema said.
