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LUCHA activist group confronts Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in ASU restroom

On Sunday, activist group Living United for Change in Arizona, also known as LUCHA, confronted Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in an Arizona State University restroom about the Build Back Better bill that is stalled in Congress. 

In two videos released on LUCHA’s Twitter, members of the group criticized her current stance against the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

“We knocked on doors for you, to get you elected, and just how we got you elected we can get you out of office if you don’t support what you promised us," a member said to Sinema in the restroom. 

Sinema  released a statement, also on Twitter, saying that while she supports the First Amendment and the right to protest, she calls the actions of the members illegitimate. 

The Democratic senator said that the immigration reform activists unlawfully entered the campus building, which was only open to ASU students and faculty, and recorded her and her students. Sinema, a former social worker, is a lecturer at ASU's School of Social Work.

“In the 19 years I have been teaching at ASU, I have been committed to creating a safe and intellectually challenging environment for my students," Sinema said. “Yesterday, that environment was breached. My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized.”

But when  President Joe Biden was asked about the incident, he played it down and called it “a part of the process.”

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jill Ryan joined KJZZ in 2020 as a morning reporter, and she is currently a field correspondent and Morning Edition producer.