Officers arrested 575 women on Thursday to break up a sit-in protest inside the US Justice Department building.
The women were challenging the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy which has separated and detained more than 2,500 children and their parents since April. They marched from Freedom Plaza to the Justice Department to Congress.
They chanted “We care” — a reference to Melania Trump’s “I DON’T CARE. DO U?” jacket which she wore en route to a children’s detention center last week — “What do we want? Free families!” and “This is what democracy looks like”. Some wore foil blankets like those covering child detainees.
Some legislators, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Tammy Duckworth offered support.
The women were charged and later released.
Many thousands of people are expected to march on Saturday in hundreds of other cities across the US.
One of the organizers of the Families Belong Together Rally, Jess Morales Rocketto, said, “It’s not just one day. We’re seeing folks turn out over and over and over again.”
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
Powerful, beautiful action with hundreds of women saying we demand the reunification of families separated by immoral ICE policy. This is what Democracy looks like. #WomenDisobey https://t.co/NDHDISPTPD pic.twitter.com/szBOJ43D6y
— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) June 28, 2018