Hundreds of protesters were arrested inside the Hart office building in Washington, DC, where Senators have their offices. Each was given a fine which they can pay starting tomorrow. Most of the protesters had foil blankets with them as props as they sat near a large sculpture which made the entire thing look like a scene from Logan’s Run:
630 women in foil blankets are being arrested in Hart Office building now as they chant “Abolish ICE” and demand an end to family detention. #WOMENDISOBEY pic.twitter.com/k3J1lmqIPA
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018
Women are being arrested by the hundreds in Congress demanding an end to the criminalization of immigrants. #EndFamilyDetention #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/ns5KC4FRlV
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018
CNN was covering the protest when police began making arrests, but police pushed reporters out so all you see is the final warning:
Police have started arresting protesters at the Senate office building pic.twitter.com/J4nkUPpksS
— Meg Wagner (@megwagner) June 28, 2018
This was not a moderate group looking to end the zero-tolerance police (which already seems to have ended), one of the protester’s central themes was “Abolish ICE.” Here’s a list of demands put out by Women’s March which helped organize this:
#WomenDisobey because we want to live in a world where:
1. @ICEgov doesn’t exist (which it didn’t before 2003).
2. Migration is not treated like a crime.
3. Families are not violently pulled apart by the govt.
4. All people are free.
It’s that simple.
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018
It certainly sounds simple but I wonder what this list would mean if implemented as policy. If migration is not a crime and “All people are free” does that mean the government has no control whatsoever of who enters or leaves the country? Because, if so, I can pretty much guarantee that millions more Central Americans are going to start marching this way in a very short period of time. All it took in 2014 was the false rumor that young people were eligible for DACA to send tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors to the border.
So I’m pretty confident this list would become a major immigration crisis in a matter of weeks. Who would feed and care for all these people? Where would they live when they show up with no money and no ability to even speak the language? None of that seems terribly simple or obvious.
In fact, this wish list seems pretty extreme to me. Will elected representatives who supported this march be asked if they endorse this? Here’s Sen. Elizabeth Warren cheering the protesters on as they chant “Abolish ICE”:
.@SenWarren stopped in to tell us to keep up the fight! #EndFamilyDetention @womensmarch pic.twitter.com/h4jao6Umhz
— Women's March – Indiana (@WMWIndiana) June 28, 2018
Sen. Gillibrand also participated:
.@SenGillibrand joins us for the #WOMENDISOBEY protest. We’re in Congress NOW calling on Congress to #abolishICE, #EndFamilyDetention, and decriminalize immigrants. Photo credit @KishaBari pic.twitter.com/us9q1IilQm
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018
And Sen. Duckworth:
.@SenDuckworth joins women from across the country as they are arrested demanding Congress #EndFamilyDetention, #abolishICE and decriminalize immigrants. pic.twitter.com/jnABcx7wvg
— Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018
Rep. Jayapal was even arrested. She posted this statement on Twitter afterwards:
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.
June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again.Join us. https://t.co/DdRHeFtTTr pic.twitter.com/P9uK0Z1Zay
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 28, 2018
Does the Democratic Party now support abolishing ICE and CBP and borders in general? This seems like something the media might want to investigate before we get too far down this road.
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