Capitol Police charge nearly 600 people protesting Trump immigration policies
U.S. Capitol Police say they have charged roughly 575 people — including a congresswoman — with unlawfully demonstrating during a Capitol Hill protest of President Trump's immigration policies and family separations at the southern border.
The protest took place in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. According to U.S. Capitol Police, the individuals are being processed on the scene and released. The demonstrators were there in protest of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that treats illegal border crossings as criminal offenses. Mr. Trump signed an executive order ending family separations, but hundreds of children remain separated. A federal judge has ordered that families separated at the border be reunited within 30 days.
Among those arrested was Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state.
"I just got arrested with a group of, I don't know exactly how many, but over 500 women," Jayapal said in a video posted to Twitter. "At least 500 women who took over the center of the Hart Senate building, protesting the inhuman and cruel zero-tolerance policy of Donald Trump and this administration, the separation of families, the caging of children, the imprisonment of asylum seekers who just seek a better life," Jayapal said in a video she posted to Twitter. "These women understand, they're from all over the country. It was organized by the women's march and by the Center for Popular Democracy. And they understand that this is far beyond politics. This is about right and wrong, and we have to stand up and we have to put ourselves on the line."
I was just arrested with 500+ women and @WomensMarch to say @RealDonaldTrump’s cruel zero-tolerance policy will not continue. Not in our country. Not in our name.
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 28, 2018
June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again.
Join us. https://t.co/DdRHeFtTTr pic.twitter.com/P9uK0Z1Zay
Mr. Trump continues to insist the U.S. needs to be tough at the border, strengthen the nation's immigration laws, and build a border wall.
On Thursday, first lady Melania Trump visited Tucson, Arizona, to meet with federal immigration officials and visit immigrant children.
This is a developing story and will be updated.