“The Kurdish people are not a major global power, but they have been friends to the United States for decades,” Shimkus said. "They’re not asking for asylum or refuge in our country because they’re fighting for a secure, peaceful space in the land they call home. But long ago fate ordained that their fight, and their values, would align with our own military campaigns in that part of the world.

“As a result, next to Israel, the Kurds have become America’s most loyal allies from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Japan through decades of conflicts,” Shimkus said. “They’ve fought our battles in Syria and Iraq so that countless American sons and daughters didn’t have to. I’m angry and embarrassed. While my votes will continue to support the president’s domestic policy agenda, because of this terrible foreign policy decision I asked that my name be removed from his campaign’s official list of supporters.”

Shimkus, along with U.S. Reps. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, had been named as honorary co-Chairs of Trump’s re-election campaign in Illinois.

On the show, Shimkus said he was sad for the Kurdish people.