PHOENIX — First lady Melania Trump made a second visit to a border state Thursday, meeting face to face with people directly affected by her husband’s hard-line immigration policies.

“I’m here to support you and give my help, whatever I can” on “behalf of children and the families,” Mrs. Trump said as she sat down with officials at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Tucson, Arizona, the first stop of her trip. She later travelled to Phoenix, where she visited a complex that is housing dozens of migrant children separated from their parents.

It was the first lady’s second trip to a border state amid an ongoing outcry over President Donald Trump’s now-suspended policy of separating migrant children from their families when they cross the border illegally. Many were placed hundreds of miles away from one another and have been struggling to be reunited.

“She cares about children deeply and when the news started to hit, I think she was very concerned and wanted to make sure the kids are being well taken care of,” Mrs. Trump’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said on the flight to Arizona.

“She doesn’t like to see parents and kids separated.”

In Washington, Capitol Police said 575 protesters were arrested and escorted out of the Hart Senate Office Building in a mass demonstration that called for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and an end to migrant family detentions and the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

The women were charged with unlawfully demonstrating, a misdemeanor.

“I have two kids, and as a white mother, there is almost no circumstance that they would be taken away from me – ever,” said Victoria Farris, who slept Wednesday night in All Souls Church after participating in civil disobedience training. “I was awake one night because I couldn’t sleep thinking about all those [immigrant] mothers and terrified children. I realized I had to do something more than protest, more than make a sign and march.”

Protesters unfurled banners inside the Hart building Thursday as others staged a sit-in, wrapping themselves in shiny, silver space blankets. The political banners, which aren’t allowed in the building’s lobby, were confiscated by police.

Just after 3 p.m., protesters were rounded up in groups of a dozen or more and led out of the building.

“Abolish ICE,” they shouted as more were moved out. “Shut it down.”

Demonstrators continued to sing and chant as they were led away.

When the first group was escorted out of the building, the remaining crowd erupted in cheers.

As police continued to clear the area, several senators greeted demonstrators, including Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

“I join them in calling on the Trump administration to reunite these families and give these kids back to their parents,” Duckworth said. “On my side of things, I ask my colleagues, let’s pass, finally, sensible immigration reform.”

Actress Susan Sarandon, who marched at the front as the protest made its way down Constitution Avenue, was arrested with a group of demonstrators.

It took about an hour to clear the women from the building.

The protest began hours earlier at Freedom Plaza, where hundreds of women robed in white and carrying signs deriding the Trump administration’s immigration policy had gathered. The protest was organized by a coalition of groups, including the Women’s March and the immigrant advocacy organization Casa de Maryland.

Several participants wrote “WE CARE” on their palms, a rebuke of the jacket first lady Melania Trump wore on her first trip to visit detained children near the border.

On Thursday, Mrs. Trump made her second trip in a risk-averse ensemble of a black sweater and white slacks.

The first lady’s first trip to the region, a week ago Thursday, had been overshadowed by a jacket she wore to and from the border town of McAllen, Texas, that had a baffling message on the back: “I really don’t care, do u?”

The choice ignited the internet and spawned a slew of memes about what the first lady, a former model, may have meant. Her spokeswoman said it was just a jacket, with no hidden message. But the first lady’s husband undercut the no-message message by tweeting that she was saying she really doesn’t care about the “fake news” media.

On Thursday, Mrs. Trump visited what officials described as a short-term holding centre for migrant children in Tucson and then travelled to Phoenix, where she visited Southwest Key Campbell, which receives grant money from the Department of Health and Human Services. A total of 121 children are being held at the facility, including 81 who had been separated from their parents.

Mrs. Trump visited three classrooms, including one day care room with nine babies or toddlers. Another classroom had five cribs lined up against a wall.

A staffer at the facility said the children had been there, on average, 48 days.

Grisham said the first lady wanted to learn about the border processes making news around the world.

Asked whether the first lady agrees with her husband’s polices, Grisham said, “She definitely believes in strong border laws,” and wants Congress to strengthen immigration policies. But she also believes in “governing with heart,” Grisham said.

More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents at the border in recent weeks, and some were placed in government-contracted shelters hundreds of miles away from their parents.

The president last week signed an executive order to halt the separation of families at the border, at least for a few weeks, but the order did not address the reunification of families already separated.

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that thousands of migrant children and parents be reunited within 30 days — and sooner if the youngster is under 5. The order poses logistical problems for the administration, and it was unclear how it would meet the deadline.

With files from The Washington Post</s>Hundreds of activists, including actress Susan Sarandon, center, challenge the Trump administration's approach to illegal border crossings and separation of children from immigrant parents, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 28, 2018.

Susan Sarandon was among hundreds of people arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday during a protest, her representative Teal Cannaday confirmed to USA TODAY Friday with a statement from the actress.

"I was moved by the passionate, committed response to ending the separation of families seeking asylum and the incarceration of children," the statement read. "This is a moral, not political question and I’m proud to have stood with the hundreds of women to say that we do not accept this. Unite families and abolish ICE."

Thousands of women marched through the capital and occupied a Senate office building in a "mass civil disobedience" act to protest the Trump administration's immigration policy.

According to the United States Capitol Police, approximately 575 protesters were charged with "unlawfully demonstrating." Police said they were being processed on the scene and then released.

Sarandon, 71, also shared the news via Twitter Thursday, saying "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting" with the hashtag #WomenDisobey.

She also tweeted out more thoughts and images from the sit-in, including calls-to-action.

"Abolishing ICE & family separations/detention is bigger than either of us. If ur in D.C., please come out & march," she tweeted.

Protesters were demonstrating against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border.

A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country.

This isn't the first time Sarandon has been vocal about politics.

She also tweeted in support of the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Earlier this month, she marched to end gun violence in New York, and in March, she joined Cher at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington in support of tighter gun control.

More: Susan Sarandon is queen of the Cannes red carpet in revealing gown</s>Nearly 600 women were arrested Thursday in one of several demonstrations across the country protesting the Trump administration's treatment of migrant families at the southern border.

Organized by the Center for Popular Democracy and the Women's March, a group that spearheaded the original Women's March in January 2017, the demonstration in Washington, D.C., sought to end family detention, create an immediate process for family reunification, and abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Protesters marched past the Justice Department then staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building where they chanted, "What do we want? Free families!" and "This is what democracy looks like," among other things, according to The Associated Press.

About 575 people were arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating inside the building, AP tweeted, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who said she was "proud to have been arrested with them."

Mrinalini Chakraborty, head of Field Operations and Strategy for Women's March, said the demonstration was a strategic decision by the organization to motivate change.

"A mass act of nonviolent civil disobedience seems like the right approach right now to send shock waves through the system," Chakraborty said. "Marching is not enough anymore."

The decision to risk arrest is one that Chakraborty says is necessary to the movement.

"It's time for us to sacrifice, to put our bodies on the line, because I don't want to be one of those people 30 years later when we look back on this time thinking what was I doing then," Chakraborty said. "I want to be able to say that I fought like hell and that I did everything in my power to protect the marginalized."

Yatziri Tovar knows what it feels like to be marginalized. A Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, Tovar felt a moral responsibility to stand in solidarity with the families at the border and to stand up for their rights.

"I know what it feels like to have that fear of being separated from your family," Tovar said. "We're going to be fighting until these families are reunited, fighting until families are no longer detained, and also for the defunding of ICE so they stop targeting our communities."

Deborah Harris is the state coordinator for the women's march in Nevada. She traveled to D.C. to march for all the people that could not march themselves.

"You have to act while you still have the freedom to act," said Harris. "You don't have to be in my family for me to care. You don't even have to be my neighbor. It's about our human rights."

In Brownsville, Texas, several hundred people rallied in front of the federal courthouse to protest the administration's family separation policy. Brownsville is a border city on the Rio Grande River across from the Mexican city of Matamoros.

The event drew protesters from all over Texas, including educators and church activists.

Ellie Moseman, a retired executive secretary from Rio Honda attending the first public protest in her life, said she was especially opposed to the plans to detain immigrants on military bases.

"Horrible, horrible. And it's for an indefinite time period. So mothers and children now are going to be detained together for how long" she asked.

The rally was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Faz Shakir, national political director for the ACLU, said the group would oppose the housing of migrants on military bases.

"Families don't belong in jail. Families don't belong on military bases," Shakir said. "We're literally treating them as if they were Osama Bin Laden, or another terrorist who needs to be locked up on a military base. It's obscene."

Talia Wiener is an intern on NPR's National Desk.</s>Hundreds Arrested Protesting Trump Administration's Immigration Policies

toggle caption Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Nearly 600 women were arrested Thursday in one of several demonstrations across the country protesting the Trump administration's treatment of migrant families at the southern border.

Politics President Trump Attempts To Change Immigration Narrative After Reversing Family Separation President Trump Attempts To Change Immigration Narrative After Reversing Family Separation Listen · 3:48 3:48

Organized by the Center for Popular Democracy Action and the Women's March, a group that spearheaded the original Women's March in January 2017, the demonstration in Washington, D.C., sought to end family detention, create an immediate process for family reunification, and abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Protesters marched past the Justice Department then staged a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building where they chanted, "What do we want? Free families!" and "This is what democracy looks like," among other things, according to The Associated Press.

About 575 people were arrested and charged with unlawfully demonstrating inside the building, AP tweeted, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who said she was "proud to have been arrested with them."

Mrinalini Chakraborty, head of Field Operations and Strategy for Women's March, said the demonstration was a strategic decision by the organization to motivate change.

"A mass act of nonviolent civil disobedience seems like the right approach right now to send shock waves through the system," Chakraborty said. "Marching is not enough anymore."

The decision to risk arrest is one that Chakraborty says is necessary to the movement.

"It's time for us to sacrifice, to put our bodies on the line, because I don't want to be one of those people 30 years later when we look back on this time thinking what was I doing then," Chakraborty said. "I want to be able to say that I fought like hell and that I did everything in my power to protect the marginalized."

Yatziri Tovar knows what it feels like to be marginalized. A Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, Tovar felt a moral responsibility to stand in solidarity with the families at the border and to stand up for their rights.

"I know what it feels like to have that fear of being separated from your family," Tovar said. "We're going to be fighting until these families are reunited, fighting until families are no longer detained, and also for the defunding of ICE so they stop targeting our communities."

Deborah Harris is the state coordinator for the women's march in Nevada. She traveled to D.C. to march for all the people that could not march themselves.

"You have to act while you still have the freedom to act," said Harris. "You don't have to be in my family for me to care. You don't even have to be my neighbor. It's about our human rights."

In Brownsville, Texas, several hundred people rallied in front of the federal courthouse to protest the administration's family separation policy. Brownsville is a border city on the Rio Grande River across from the Mexican city of Matamoros.

The event drew protesters from all over Texas, including educators and church activists.

toggle caption Eric Gay/AP

Ellie Moseman, a retired executive secretary from Rio Honda attending the first public protest in her life, said she was especially opposed to the plans to detain immigrants on military bases.

"Horrible, horrible. And it's for an indefinite time period. So mothers and children now are going to be detained together for how long" she asked.

The rally was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Faiz Shakir, national political director for the ACLU, said the group would oppose the housing of migrants on military bases.

"Families don't belong in jail. Families don't belong on military bases," Shakir said. "We're literally treating them as if they were Osama Bin Laden, or another terrorist who needs to be locked up on a military base. It's obscene."

Talia Wiener is an intern on NPR's National Desk.</s>Hundreds of activists, including actress Susan Sarandon, center, challenge the Trump administration's approach to illegal border crossings and separation of children from immigrant parents, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 28, 2018.

Susan Sarandon was among hundreds of people arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday during a protest, her representative Teal Cannaday confirmed to USA TODAY Friday with a statement from the actress.

"I was moved by the passionate, committed response to ending the separation of families seeking asylum and the incarceration of children," the statement read. "This is a moral, not political question and I’m proud to have stood with the hundreds of women to say that we do not accept this. Unite families and abolish ICE."

Thousands of women marched through the capital and occupied a Senate office building in a "mass civil disobedience" act to protest the Trump administration's immigration policy.

According to the United States Capitol Police, approximately 575 protesters were charged with "unlawfully demonstrating." Police said they were being processed on the scene and then released.

Sarandon, 71, also shared the news via Twitter Thursday, saying "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting" with the hashtag #WomenDisobey.

She also tweeted out more thoughts and images from the sit-in, including calls-to-action.

"Abolishing ICE & family separations/detention is bigger than either of us. If ur in D.C., please come out & march," she tweeted.

Protesters were demonstrating against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border.

A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country.

This isn't the first time Sarandon has been vocal about politics.

She also tweeted in support of the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Earlier this month, she marched to end gun violence in New York, and in March, she joined Cher at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington in support of tighter gun control.

More: Susan Sarandon is queen of the Cannes red carpet in revealing gown</s>Hundreds of activists, including actress Susan Sarandon, center, challenge the Trump administration's approach to illegal border crossings and separation of children from immigrant parents, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 28, 2018.

Susan Sarandon was among hundreds of people arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday during a protest, her representative Teal Cannaday confirmed to USA TODAY Friday with a statement from the actress.

"I was moved by the passionate, committed response to ending the separation of families seeking asylum and the incarceration of children," the statement read. "This is a moral, not political question and I’m proud to have stood with the hundreds of women to say that we do not accept this. Unite families and abolish ICE."

Thousands of women marched through the capital and occupied a Senate office building in a "mass civil disobedience" act to protest the Trump administration's immigration policy.

According to the United States Capitol Police, approximately 575 protesters were charged with "unlawfully demonstrating." Police said they were being processed on the scene and then released.

Sarandon, 71, also shared the news via Twitter Thursday, saying "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting" with the hashtag #WomenDisobey.

She also tweeted out more thoughts and images from the sit-in, including calls-to-action.

"Abolishing ICE & family separations/detention is bigger than either of us. If ur in D.C., please come out & march," she tweeted.

Protesters were demonstrating against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border.

A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country.

This isn't the first time Sarandon has been vocal about politics.

She also tweeted in support of the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Earlier this month, she marched to end gun violence in New York, and in March, she joined Cher at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington in support of tighter gun control.

More: Susan Sarandon is queen of the Cannes red carpet in revealing gown</s>U.S. Capitol Police say they have charged roughly 575 people — including a congresswoman — with unlawfully demonstrating during a Capitol Hill protest of President Trump's immigration policies and family separations at the southern border.

The protest took place in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. According to U.S. Capitol Police, the individuals are being processed on the scene and released. The demonstrators were there in protest of the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that treats illegal border crossings as criminal offenses. Mr. Trump signed an executive order ending family separations, but hundreds of children remain separated. A federal judge has ordered that families separated at the border be reunited within 30 days.

Among those arrested was Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state.

"I just got arrested with a group of, I don't know exactly how many, but over 500 women," Jayapal said in a video posted to Twitter. "At least 500 women who took over the center of the Hart Senate building, protesting the inhuman and cruel zero-tolerance policy of Donald Trump and this administration, the separation of families, the caging of children, the imprisonment of asylum seekers who just seek a better life," Jayapal said in a video she posted to Twitter. "These women understand, they're from all over the country. It was organized by the women's march and by the Center for Popular Democracy. And they understand that this is far beyond politics. This is about right and wrong, and we have to stand up and we have to put ourselves on the line."

Mr. Trump continues to insist the U.S. needs to be tough at the border, strengthen the nation's immigration laws, and build a border wall.

On Thursday, first lady Melania Trump visited Tucson, Arizona, to meet with federal immigration officials and visit immigrant children.

This is a developing story and will be updated.</s>Hundreds of activists, including actress Susan Sarandon, center, challenge the Trump administration's approach to illegal border crossings and separation of children from immigrant parents, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 28, 2018.

Susan Sarandon was among hundreds of people arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday during a protest, her representative Teal Cannaday confirmed to USA TODAY Friday with a statement from the actress.

"I was moved by the passionate, committed response to ending the separation of families seeking asylum and the incarceration of children," the statement read. "This is a moral, not political question and I’m proud to have stood with the hundreds of women to say that we do not accept this. Unite families and abolish ICE."

Thousands of women marched through the capital and occupied a Senate office building in a "mass civil disobedience" act to protest the Trump administration's immigration policy.

According to the United States Capitol Police, approximately 575 protesters were charged with "unlawfully demonstrating." Police said they were being processed on the scene and then released.

Sarandon, 71, also shared the news via Twitter Thursday, saying "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting" with the hashtag #WomenDisobey.

She also tweeted out more thoughts and images from the sit-in, including calls-to-action.

"Abolishing ICE & family separations/detention is bigger than either of us. If ur in D.C., please come out & march," she tweeted.

Protesters were demonstrating against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border.

A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country.

This isn't the first time Sarandon has been vocal about politics.

She also tweeted in support of the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Earlier this month, she marched to end gun violence in New York, and in March, she joined Cher at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington in support of tighter gun control.

More: Susan Sarandon is queen of the Cannes red carpet in revealing gown</s>Hundreds of activists, including actress Susan Sarandon, center, challenge the Trump administration's approach to illegal border crossings and separation of children from immigrant parents, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 28, 2018.

Susan Sarandon was among hundreds of people arrested in Washington, D.C. Thursday during a protest, her representative Teal Cannaday confirmed to USA TODAY Friday with a statement from the actress.

"I was moved by the passionate, committed response to ending the separation of families seeking asylum and the incarceration of children," the statement read. "This is a moral, not political question and I’m proud to have stood with the hundreds of women to say that we do not accept this. Unite families and abolish ICE."

Thousands of women marched through the capital and occupied a Senate office building in a "mass civil disobedience" act to protest the Trump administration's immigration policy.

According to the United States Capitol Police, approximately 575 protesters were charged with "unlawfully demonstrating." Police said they were being processed on the scene and then released.

Sarandon, 71, also shared the news via Twitter Thursday, saying "Arrested. Stay strong. Keep fighting" with the hashtag #WomenDisobey.

She also tweeted out more thoughts and images from the sit-in, including calls-to-action.

"Abolishing ICE & family separations/detention is bigger than either of us. If ur in D.C., please come out & march," she tweeted.

Protesters were demonstrating against President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border.

A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country.

This isn't the first time Sarandon has been vocal about politics.

She also tweeted in support of the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Earlier this month, she marched to end gun violence in New York, and in March, she joined Cher at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington in support of tighter gun control.

More: Susan Sarandon is queen of the Cannes red carpet in revealing gown</s>If you have any social media presence at all, I am sure you have heard about the situation where the Trump administration is separating families who attempt to cross the border. Like all stories, the truth has become distorted through social media. Here are the straight facts about the situation, and the truth behind the Trump administration’s lies.

The Facts

 Despite what Trump says, family separation is NOT a law, but rather a Trump administration policy. The administration has been claiming that U.S. laws are forcing the separation of families attempting to cross the border, but the separation is due to the Zero-Tolerance Policy implemented by the Trump Administration. The Zero Tolerance Policy essentially states that all illegal border-crossings are taken to criminal prosecution, resulting in families being separated as the parents are sent to jail rather than keeping family together in a detention center. This policy also states that people can be deported for anything as small as a misdemeanor, so you can be deported for crossing the border.

“I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.”

The administration has referenced previous policies, laws, and court rulings which they stated forced them into this position, the first being The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which rules the first attempt a person makes to illegally enter the country is considered a misdemeanor.

Another is the federal consent decree made in 1977 stating that the government is required to release all children who are caught while trying to enter the U.S, which in no way prevents parents from being released with their children. The Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act states that Central American caught trying to cross the border must be released and not detained and are free from from being sent home to their home countries. This act in no way requires family separation.

But what is really important is how the Trump administration is blatantly lying about their policy. This should come as no surprise, looking at the history of the administration and the president himself.

Families are fleeing abuse and gang activity to seek asylum, which the Trump administration states is being abused by smugglers. Trump states people can simply go to the entrance at the border to seek asylum, but it is well known that people are often turned down due to the large crowds. It is painstakingly clear these views held by the administration are influenced by xenophobia and blatant racism.

Why You Should Care

Trump denying due process of law to these immigrants also means that you, as an American citizen, can be deported without a hearing. It doesn’t matter if you can prove you were born in this country if there is no lawful judicial review. Despite that, the trauma these children are experiencing by being put in cages in converted warehouses should be enough to make any human being sympathetic.

As an american citizen you have more of an ability to influence change than these persecuted immigrants. Protesting, signing petitions, and talking to local representatives not only puts pressure on the Trump administration to change this behavior, but has been proven successful recently when Trump made an executive order forcibly reversing family separation. If these issues are upsetting or disturbing to you, do something about it. Even though change is hard, working together to advocate for what matters will make a difference.
About 575 women are arrested during a sit-in at the Hart Senate Office Building protesting the Trump administration family separation policy.