Community Corner

Alameda High Grad Who Heckled Obama's SF Speech Defends Action

Ju Hong, the AHS grad who heckled President Obama about deportations during his San Francisco speech on Nov. 25, defended the interruption in an open letter to Obama published on Huffington Post.

Ju Hong, an Alameda High School alum who made international headlines when he interrupted President Obama's Nov. 25 speech in San Francisco's Chinatown, says in a Huffington Post blog post that he was "compelled" to act because of Obama's deportation policy.

In an open letter to Obama published Monday, the 24-year-old Hong wrote, "I spoke up -- and am writing to you now -- to ask that you use your executive order to halt deportations for 11.5 million undocumented immigrant families."

Hong called out during Obama's speech, telling the president to stop the deportations and began chanting, "Stop deportations!" As security personnel moved to oust him, Obama said to let the young man stay and then responded to the complaint, saying the President cannot unilaterally overrule Congress on immigration and deportation policy.

Hong, who is pursuing a master's in public administration at San Francisco State, said he discovered in his senior year in high school that he and his other family members in the United States had overstayed a tourist visa and are undocumented immigrants.

Former SF Mayor Willie Brown's apology to Obama on behalf of city

Former San Francisco Mayor and California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown offered an apology to Obama on behalf of San Francisco in his weekly San Francisco Chronicle column Sunday.

"The White House is steaming over San Francisco's lack of vetting of the people who joined President Obama onstage in Chinatown last week for his immigration speech - especially after one of them started yelling at the president about halting deportations," Brown wrote.

"On behalf of the city, Mr. President, I apologize for our bad behavior."

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