The Congresswoman was held during a protest against the zero tolerance immigration policy that has separated children from parents
indica Washington bureau
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (Democrat, Washington), was arrested by the US Capitol Police as she joined more than 500 women during a civil disobedience action against the Trump administration’s zero tolerance immigration policies that have caused over 2,000 children to be separated from their families.
“I just got arrested with a group of over 500 women who took over the center of the Hart Senate Building, protesting the inhumane and cruel zero-tolerance policy of Donald Trump and this administration, the separation of families, the caging of children, the imprisonment of asylum seekers,” Jayapal said.
More than 500 women were arrested during a sit-in protest at the Senate Hart Office building. They were released after being charged with holding an unlawful demonstration.
“These women understand. They’re from all over the country… They understand that this is far beyond politics. This is about right and wrong. We have to step up and put ourselves on the line,” said Jayapal in a video posted on her Twitter account. She added, “Not in our country. Not in our name. June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again,”
On June 30, thousands of women across the US are expected to protest the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy in rallies organized by a coalition led by the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance.
“I’m proud to have been arrested with them – to put myself in the camp of people who believe that the United States of America is better,” Jayapal said in her video.
Jayapal, the only Indian American woman in the House of Representatives, is up for re-election in November. She was the first member of Congress to visit a federal prison to meet mothers and fathers who had been separated from their children.
