A protester holds a Mexican flag as Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Republican convention Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Anthony Nwanneka Ifebi hid two flags beneath his shirt before entering the Republican midterm convention Thursday at American Airlines Center.
“I just put them in my shirt and pretended I had a gut,” he said.
Later that night, the Grand Prairie resident walked down the stands toward the stage as Vice President JD Vance addressed the crowd. Ifebi said he unfurled a Mexican flag, called out to Vance and shouted, “Immigrants are welcome here.”
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He then displayed a Palestinian flag before security personnel escorted him from the arena. Footage published online appeared to show the Mexican flag being tossed toward the stage during the disruption.
Vance paused as the crowd booed and began chanting “USA.”
“Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there,” Vance said. “I’ll buy the plane ticket.”
Vance then called the protester an “idiot” and said the interruption represented the political left, criticizing him for waving a Mexican flag instead of an American one. He added that despite waving a foreign flag, the protester would rather live in Dallas or Cincinnati than in Mexico.
Ifebi did not hear Vance’s response because he was being escorted out of the arena, he said. After learning what the vice president had said, he rejected the suggestion that displaying another country’s flag reflected disloyalty to the United States.
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“Supporting another country does not mean that you don’t want to live in this country,” he said.
The flags represented separate but connected causes, Ifebi said. He carried the Mexican flag to demonstrate his support for immigrants, particularly a community he believes has been demeaned during the national immigration debate.
“The Mexican flag is there for a reason because their community has been belittled and demonized,” he said.
The Palestinian flag was intended to express his support for Palestinians and draw attention to the suffering in Gaza, he said.
Ifebi attended the convention’s opening night Wednesday without protesting. He initially went because he wanted to hear Republican leaders firsthand, despite strongly disagreeing with them.
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“You can’t learn about people if you’re not willing to engage with them and be amongst them,” he said.
He left the first night frustrated by what he viewed as the demonization of immigrants and transgender people, while speakers gave too little attention to Americans’ financial pressures or the United States’ war with Iran.
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After learning Vance would deliver an address Thursday, Ifebi decided to return for the convention’s second night with the flags. He chose to protest while Vance spoke rather than President Donald Trump because he sees the vice president as an emerging leader of the Republican Party and a possible successor to Trump.
“JD Vance is the future of the party,” Ifebi said. “He’s the one that they want to frame as their golden boy.”
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Ifebi said he wanted Vance to encounter opposition even inside an arena filled largely with Republican supporters. He described the vice president as a divisive figure and wanted to demonstrate that dissenting voices were present at the convention.
Ifebi said he only had to register online to attend. Once inside the arena Thursday, he waited for Vance’s speech before displaying the flags.
He said he was nervous before the protest and feared someone in the crowd might assault him. He also was surprised by how long he remained standing with the flags before security reached him.
Ifebi estimated four or five people escorted him out. He identified them as police officers and said they treated him cordially, describing them as “quite jovial.”
He said he was briefly detained but not arrested and received a criminal trespass warning barring him from American Airlines Center for 90 days.
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Ifebi, 30, was born in Dallas and has lived in Grand Prairie his entire life except during his military service. He said he served in the Army from 2018 to 2024 and was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
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Thursday was not his first political protest. Ifebi said he previously displayed a Palestinian flag at an event featuring independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders because he believed Sanders had not characterized Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
Afterward, Ifebi said, he heard criticism that pro-Palestinian demonstrators targeted left-leaning politicians but would not disrupt a Republican event.
“I took that as a challenge, to be honest,” he said.
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Ifebi said demonstrating at events featuring Sanders and Vance shows his political criticism is not confined to one party.
Despite the boos and “USA” chants inside the arena, Ifebi said his message was not directed against the attendees themselves.
“I do not hate the people in that convention room,” he said. “I think they’re scared and confused, and I think they need to open up their hearts and their eyes.”