Undocumented worker fired from Trump resort to attend State of the Union

An undocumented worker fired from US President Donald Trump's New Jersey golf resort will attend the State of the Union address on February 5 after being invited by a Democratic Congresswoman.

Victorina Morales, a Guatemalan native, worked for years at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, before describing herself as an undocumented worker in a New York Times article in December, CNN reported.

As a result, she was terminated from her job and currently faces deportation.

Morales was invited by New Jersey Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, the Congresswoman's office and Morales' attorney confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

"I hope that in his State of the Union address, Donald Trump will finally acknowledge the real face of immigrants in this country - women and children fleeing violence, law-abiding, tax-paying people who would do almost anything to be Americans," Watson Coleman said in a statement on Wednesday.

"And if he can't, I've invited Victorina so that he may look her in her eyes to tell his lies to a familiar face."

Along with other former club workers, Morales was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday meeting lawmakers to push for an investigation into the Trump Organization's hiring practices and for protection from deportation.

Morales, who came to the US illegally in 1999, told CNN that she had no problem getting hired by the club in 2013 and claimed that managers helped her obtain fake documents for employment.

After experiencing what she described as abuse by her supervisor and an increasingly hostile environment since Trump's election, Morales said she decided to speak publicly even though that risked deportation.

Guests are traditionally invited to the State of the Union address by the President and members of Congress, often to highlight a political message.

--IANS

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