SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – President Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to the nation and Congress on Tuesday. He is expected to sell his controversial immigration plan that has many dreamers around the county anxious.
On the eve of President Trump’s first address to the nation, dreamer Karen Bahena spoke to News 8 from her Washington D.C. hotel room.
She will be Democratic Congressman Scott Peters guest to the State of the Union.
“I think solidarity being among other dreamers is going to be very empowering and I hope that Democrats stand on our side and hear our stories,” she said.
Trump is also expected to layout his $25 billion request to build a border wall in exchange to make 1.8 million undocumented immigrants future citizens.
“Our life is in limbo and right now they are using dreamers as bargaining chips to build a border wall,” said Bahena.
Bahena graduated from San Diego State University with a public health and nutrition degree. She is currently a researcher at UC San Diego.
She moved to San Diego in 2001 from Mexico when she was eight-years-old with her family.
“We consider ourselves American. We have acclimated. We want to be here and help our communities,” she said.
President Trump is also expected to talk about trade deals and a trillion dollar infrastructure revitalization plan.
Former State Department official and Southern California native Jenna Ben-Yehuda will be Congresswoman Susan Davis’ guest to the State of the Union as part of the Me Too movement.
“I think it is so important to stand in solidarity with my peers in the national security community and women wherever they are,” said Ben-Yehuda.
Ben-Yehuda is the co-author of the “#MeTooNATSEC” letter.
“This is not an issue for Hollywood alone or the tech industry. This really is an issue that really affects woman where an imbalance of power that exists,” she said.
Some of the women attending Tuesday night’s State of the Union will wear black in solidarity.
The president and the first lady, Melania Trump, have invited 15 guests to the State of the Union, including: a police officer who adopted a child whose parents suffered from an opioid addiction, two injured veterans and five who have personal ties to the immigration crackdown, and five victims of the MS-13 gang.
The State of the Union will on CBS News 8 at 6 p.m., on Tuesday.