Armed Woman Second in Two Days Arrested Outside White House

A Michigan woman armed with a gun was arrested outside the White House Thursday after President Obama’s speech outlining his plan to use an executive order to spare nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The woman, who had an unregistered 9 mm handgun in a holster, was identified as April Lenhart, 23, The Washington Post reports. It was not immediately clear where she lives in Michigan.

The incident involving the Michigan woman is the second involving firearms near the White House in as many days.

On Wednesday, the Secret Service arrested an Iowa man who had a hunting rifle and ammunition in his car, The New York Times reports.

Bernie Kapheim, 41, of Davenport told Secret Service officers “that someone had told him that he should come to the White House, so he had driven to Washington to do so.”

Authorities “ interviewed him there and realized that there needed to be further investigating because something wasn’t right,” according to the report.

He was charged with possession of an illegal firearm.

Secret Service officers arrested Lenhart about 8 p.m. after she was seen walking along the White House’s north fence near Pennsylvania Avenue, said Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

CBS News reports Lenhart is not cooperating with authorities. A male companion was checked and questioned extensively, then released. His identity was unknown late Thursday.

The woman was arrested just moments after Obama concluded a speech on an expansive immigration plan that would refocus enforcement efforts on “felons, not families,” the Associated Press reports.

Obama’s use of executive powers has infuriated Republicans and some members of his own party.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who will soon assume the powerful Senate majority leader position, said Obama “will come to regret the next chapter history writes if he does move forward.” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the president’s plan has “cemented his legacy of lawlessness and squandered what little credibility he had left.”

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