Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-7th District, was arrested Thursday at a "mass civil disobedience" event in Washington D.C. to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
“I’m proud to have been arrested with them to put myself in the camp of people who believe that the United States is better,” Jayapal said in a video on Twitter.
Jayapal said she was with a group of over 500 women when she got arrested. The group took over the center of the Hart Senate office building to protest the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Jayapal.
“This is far beyond politics,” Jayapal said. “This is about right and wrong. We have to stand up, and we have to put ourselves on the line.”
The “zero tolerance” policy has accelerated the separation of children and parents at the border. Trump signed an executive order last week halting the separations. Washington was one of 17 states to sue the Trump administration this week over the separations.
Another major protest is scheduled for Saturday in Washington D.C. and Seattle.
