Rep. Al Green disrupts Trump speech and is escorted out

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, was escorted out of President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday evening after yelling that Trump had no mandate to cut Medicaid. The congressman stood up at the beginning of the address, shouted that the president had no mandate, and was met with chants from the Republican side to be thrown out. Green continued after being warned by officials. He remained standing and said to the president, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”

The congressman was then escorted out of the chamber. Rep. Green has a history of attention-getting acts and this year has called for Trump to be impeached.

After he was walked out of the House chamber, Green told reporters that this president has used incivility “against our civility.” He added: “I'll accept the punishment. But it's worth it to let people know that there's some of us who are going to stand up to against this president's desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”

Medicaid, a government health insurance program for low-income people and the disabled, is top-of-mind for Democrats after House Republicans passed a budget last week that opens the door for funding cuts to the program.

Green's action was the most disruptive act of protest from Democrats, but there were others from Texans in the room. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, left the speech partway through after standing up with a number of other members in a show of dissent, several with the word “Resist” on the back of their shirts. Rep. Greg Casar D-Austin, held a small sign that said “Musk Steals” throughout the speech. The congress member has spent recent weeks speaking out against Elon Musk, asking to eliminate a government role for the billionaire who has taken a position with the Trump administration to bring down the size of government.

Other Texans had notable roles during the speech. Among the official Melania Trump guests at the speech were three Texans representing recent Republican policy pushes.

One first lady guest was the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl who was killed in June. Two people who entered the country illegally from Venezuela, according to police, have been charged with murder in the case.

Since the death of her daughter, Alexis Nungaray has become an advocate for tougher border policies. She has pushed for an end to “catch and release,” and in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz’s “Justice for Jocelyn Act.”

“The Biden-Harris policies that we have here are why she’s not here,” Alexis Nungaray said during an October press briefing alongside Trump. “I will forever be a grieving mother.”

She stood and nodded as Trump recognized her during his speech. Alexis Nungaray then wiped her eye as the president announced that he has signed an executive order to rename a wildlife sanctuary near Galveston in honor of Jocelyn Nungaray.

While the Nungaray death has become a battle cry for the right, studies indicate that immigrants, with or without documents, are no more likely than others in the U.S. to commit crimes.

Other Texas guests of the first lady included U.S. Border Patrol agent Roberto Ortiz from Weslaco and a 15-year-old deepfake video victim, Elliston Berry from Aledo.

Berry participated in a Monday roundtable with Melania Trump and Cruz supporting the “Take it Down Act” – a bill that would make it illegal to publish any non-consensual sexually exploitative images, including images made by deepfake technology. The bill passed the Senate in February.

Ortiz, according to a White House news release, has been shot by cartel members multiple times while working near the Rio Grande River.

Trump listed progress on border security and his many executive orders as among his most important accomplishments from the first weeks of his second term, taking credit for what he said was a new optimism in the country.

“America is back,” the president said at the start of his nearly 100-minute talk. In his sweeping rhetorical style, he said the nation has already had a comeback greater than anything seen in history.

The lawmaker who interrupted the early part of the speech, Al Green, has been the representative for Texas 9th congressional district, the southwest portion of the Houston area, for 20 years, after assuming office in 2005. The 77-year-old lawyer, who ran uncontested in 2024, pushed Congress three separate times to file articles of impeachment against Trump during the president’s first term. In February, Green sought to impeach Trump a fourth time, less than a month into the president’s second term.

In 2019, a comment Green made in an NBC interview was criticized by members of both parties and used by Republicans to frame Democrats’ attempts to impeach Trump as illegitimate.“I’m concerned if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected,” Green said in the interview. In 2021, Green was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol alongside state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, while protesting a state voting restrictions bill. Green was also arrested in 2012 while protesting alongside other lawmakers and the actor George Clooney outside the Sudanese embassy.

On the Republican side, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas brought Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George to the joint address. Cornyn will benefit from any show of Republican solidarity as he may face a 2026 primary challenge from Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“Like me, the chairman is an unwavering supporter of President Trump’s agenda and I am glad to call him a friend,” Cornyn posted on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday.

George wrote on X that “D.C. seems to be on a better track than Austin right now,” after meeting with Cornyn Tuesday.

Other Texans invited to the address were the CEO of Ma Hila’s Heart Children’s Cancer Foundation, Jason Massiatte, as the guest of Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and John Carlo, the CEO of Prism Health North Texas, as the guest of Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Farmers Branch. These guests were invited, according to news releases from the members’ offices, to signify opposition to any funding cut for cancer research and Medicaid.

Ayden Runnels contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Prism Health North Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

---

We can’t wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more.

Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025.

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.