Crowd cheers as Tennessee GOP rep. tells girl her dad would have to be deported

By Traci G. Lee, NBCLatino

A Tennessee crowd cheered after a Republican congressman told an 11-year-old girl that her father would have to be deported.

The girl, identified as Josie Molina Macareg, approached the microphone at a town hall last week to ask Rep. Scott DesJarlais, “I have a dad who’s undocumented. What can I do so he can stay with me?”

DesJarlais responded, “Thank you for being here, and thank you for coming forward and speaking…the answer still kinda remains the same: we have laws and we need to follow those laws, and that’s where we’re at.”

The anti-immigration advocates in the crowd reportedly applauded and cheered in response as Josie took her seat, head down.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.