Trump immigration official forced out of bar as ex-Maryland governor slams him for 'putting children in cages'

'We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages'

Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was confronted at a bar about the administration's immigration policies on Thanksgiving Eve. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A top immigration adviser to Donald Trump was forced out of a bar in Washington after facing extensive heckling from fellow patrons — including former Maryland governor and 2016 Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley.

Ken Cuccinelli, who currently serves as the acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, reportedly experienced the “shame-invoking tirade” at a popular Irish pub on Thanksgiving Eve, a night known for raucous drinking festivities.

He said he was ordering a Guinness at The Dubliner when he first heard Mr O’Malley cursing at him. Both men had attended the Catholic all-boys Gonzaga College high school in Washington, graduating five years apart, and were attending an unofficial get-together for the school’s graduates hosted annually at the bar.

“For a moment, I thought he was trying to be funny”, Mr Cuccinelli told the Washington Post. The former governor confirmed to the newspaper that he used “very direct and colourful” language during the confrontation, adding: “We all let him know how we felt about him putting refugee immigrant kids in cages — certainly not what we were taught by the Jesuits at Gonzaga.”

Mr O’Malley also told the newspaper he raised Mr Cuccinelli’s Italian ancestry, telling the Trump appointee his immigrant grandparents “would be ashamed of him putting children in cages on our southwest border”.

The bar patrons — including Mr O’Malley — continued castigating Mr Cuccinelli until he left the bar.

As with most bar disputes, there are varying accounts as to what exactly happened — and who escalated the confrontation between the two men.

Siobhan Arnold, who was at The Dubliner when the confrontation occurred, tweeted at the time: “Martin O’Malley just drove Ken Cuccinelli out of the Dubliner in DC w/ a passion-laced and shame-invoking tirade on behalf of immigrant refugee children!!!”

She later told the Washington Post that Mr O’Malley “was shouting” and that Mr Cuccinelli “pretty much retreated” after being confronted by the former governor.

“I don’t think Cucinelli was responding”, she said. “I think he’s like, ‘Time to go. Just got here and I’m leaving.’ He pretty much retreated.”

Mr O’Malley denied he was shouting, telling the newspaper he raised his voice “to be heard” by Mr Cuccinelli inside the crowded bar. He also said that Mr Cuccinelli “put his chest up in mine, to which I said, ‘What is it, Ken? You want to take a swing?’”

Meanwhile, Mr Cuccinelli reported that Mr O’Malley’s veins were “bulging on his neck” as multiple patrons cursed at him, causing him to eventually leave the bar.

“I said ‘Martin, one of us has to rise above this, and it’s obviously not going to be you’”, Mr Cuccinelli said, describing Mr O’Malley’s behaviour as being “sad as it was shocking”.

Mr Cuccinelli is seen as one of the president’s most hardline advisers on immigration, and had previously run an unsuccessful bid for Virginia governor in 2013. His views sharply contrast with those of Mr O’Malley, who was known in his gubernatorial tenure to extend protections for undocumented immigrants.

Numerous Trump appointees and Cabinet officials have been confronted over the administration’s agenda, from former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was denied service at a Virginia restaurant, to former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who was forced out of a Mexican restaurant in Washington.