As people across the US prepare to protest the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant families this weekend, hundreds women got a headstart on calling for action on Thursday, and were arrested.
More than 2,000 people, most of them women, marched from the Department of Justice to the Senate’s Hart Office building in Washington, DC, yesterday calling for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be abolished.
Take Action: Reunite All Separated Families and Support Foreign Aid to End the Root Cause of the Migration Crisis
Dressed in white, the women staged a sit-in at the Hart building, chanting, “We Care,” in support of undocumented immigrants, and “Abolish ICE.” Many rallied behind the protest’s hashtag #WomenDisobey and carried foil space blankets that separated immigrant children have been seen using in recent photos of detention centers.
HAPPENING NOW: Hundreds of activists have joined @womensmarch#WomenDisobey in a mass act of civil disobedience to demand #EndFamilyDetention and #AbolishICE. pic.twitter.com/z2MMC9wqkL
— Kyle O'Leary (@tkocreative) June 28, 2018
I want my children to know when you believe in something so strongly, you do what you have to do to make your voice known & make it right. Proud to get arrested today in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience to say that what is happening at the border is immoral. #womendisobeypic.twitter.com/2bd3nxbZiH
— Amanda: Raising Imagination (@raisingimagine) June 29, 2018
By late afternoon, the Capitol Police had arrested about 600 participants in the nonviolent act of civil disobedience, including actress Susan Sarandon, for “unlawfully demonstrating.”
Never been so proud to receive the text "I've been arrested" from my Mom #womendisobey
— Katie Pischke (@katiepischke) June 28, 2018
Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting. #WomenDisobey
— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) June 28, 2018
I didn’t realize getting arrested with @PramilaJayapal was on my bucket list until it happened. What are the odds I can get a copy of our arrest photo from Capitol police? #WomenDisobey
— Ali Anderson (@alexidarling) June 28, 2018
My incredible and badass mother, @MillennialXpert, just got arrest with 574 other women on Capitol Hill in an act of civil disobedience, calling for action to be taken in order to end family detentions and end zero tolerance #WomenDisobey#GoodTrouble
— Kathryn Teaney (@kteaney) June 28, 2018
The protest was organized by the Women’s March, the group responsible for the Women’s March on Washington that first took place in January 2017, and was joined by several lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth who attended with her baby daughter.
Female lawmakers joined #WomenDisobey protests in D.C. against family detentions at the border, including:
— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 28, 2018
🔸 Senator Tammy Duckworth (+ baby)
🔸 Senator Elizabeth Warren
🔸 Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
🔸 Senator Mazie Hirono
🔸 Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
🔸 Rep. Pramila Jayapal pic.twitter.com/snBsjdavQg
Proud to join women protesting Trump’s policy of separating families. I'm lucky to be the mom of 2 incredible little girls & I can’t even begin to imagine being torn away from them or the pain and fear they would feel if they were ripped from my arms #WomenDisobeypic.twitter.com/WShvatJMkY
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) June 28, 2018
The Hart Senate office building is filled with the sound of hundreds of women & allies chanting “We Care!”
— Kai Newkirk (@kai_newkirk) June 28, 2018
So beautiful. THIS is what democracy looks like and we WILL make America what it must become. #EndFamilyDetention#AbolishICE#WomenDisobey@womensmarch@Alyssa_Milanopic.twitter.com/8fdV11QWDW
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending his administration’s policy of separating families last week, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has been forced to stop referring adults who illegally cross the border with their children for criminal prosecution because their detention facilities are not large enough to hold families together. However, calls for the abolition of ICE, which is responsible for policing the immigration status of those already inside US borders, are many continue to the criticize the agency for their inhumane treatment of immigrants.
Read more: How You Can Still Help Migrant Families Being Separated at the Border
Global Citizen campaigns for freedom, for justice, for all, regardless of who you are or where you came from. You can take action here.
Join Global Citizen on Saturday, June 30, in New York City to march to keep families together.