Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal Among Hundreds Arrested During Immigration Policy Protest

Abby Gardner
Updated

If Thursday was any indication, women aren't going to be silenced in this political climate.

In Washington D.C., hundreds of activists, mostly women, descended on the Hart Senate office building to protest the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration and family detention policies.

And many ended up in handcuffs for the cause.

The protest, organized by the Women's March, called for an act of civil disobedience on Twitter: "We are calling for all women to join us for a mass civil disobedience in DC on Thursday, 6/28, to demand this administration stop criminalizing undocumented immigrants and tearing children away from their parents."

Before arriving at the Senate building, Reuters reports that protesters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and stopped at the Trump International Hotel to shout, "Shame! Shame! Shame!"

The group included a few key Democratic politicians: Senator Tammy Duckworth (with her new baby strapped to her chest), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, who was arrested by Capitol police along with dozens of protesters. Jayapal posted to Twitter not long after her arrest and called on people to put themselves on the line as well during Saturday's nationwide #FamiliesBelongTogether marches. (While she claimed 500 were arrested, CNN's initial reporting cited around 100.)

Gillibrand shot video from inside the demonstration, which showed protesters wrapped in foil blankets much like those we've seen on the children in images from the border detention centers. "These women are outraged. They are here until they get arrested," she said. "They're being heard. They're speaking out. They're not stopping." (Gillibrand's office confirmed to Glamour that she was not arrested during the protest.)

Duckworth took a seat alongside her fellow protestors with her newborn baby. According to a Washington Post journalist on the scene, Duckworth said: “What would it be like to have my breast-feeding child ripped away from me? This is deeply personal as a mother.”

Actress Susan Sarandon was also among those arrested during yesterday's protest. "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting. #WomenDisobey," she wrote on Twitter.

More protests are scheduled for Saturday, June 30, around the country. Find one near you here.

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