WASHINGTON — Thousands of women marched through Washington, D.C., on Thursday afternoon 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. Protesters were demonstrating against the "zero tolerance" policy, which has caused more than 2,000 migrant children to be separated from their parents after crossing the border, has sparked public outcry. A major protest is planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., with sister rallies across the country. "We're here to show solidarity with all the mothers who have been separated from their children, and this is because we want to make sure families are reunited," said Luba Cortes, an immigrant defense coordinator with Make The Road NY. "ICE is a rogue agency, and we don't want it to continue this way, so we also want to abolish ICE." The Women's March was a massive protest in the nation's capital and around the globe on Jan. 21, 2017 — one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump — that advocated for human rights on issues such as health care, LGBT equality and immigration and was seen as a response to Trump's election campaign and political views. Similar rallies were held a year later in January, and Women's March organizers have been involved in everything from outreach programs to grass-roots efforts in local communities. Disobedience events also took place in other U.S. cities on Thursday. In Burlington, a group of roughly 45 women and children marched on a federal building. In the nation's capital, the two-mile march took protesters past the Trump International Hotel and reached the Department of Justice, where many women sat down in the street to block the entrance of the building. Later, protesters moved to the Hart Senate Office Building, wrapped in silver cellophane blankets to symbolize the blankets given to children in detention facilities. Hundreds of women swarmed the ground floor of the building's atrium, and dozens more crowded the upper balconies. Those on the ground floor planned to be arrested. Several members of Congress, including Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., stopped by to speak with protesters. Police soon arrived on the scene and began leading small groups of protesters out of the building. Linda Sarsour, a co-chair of the Women's March and an organizer of the event, said many protesters were engaging in civil disobedience for the first time. "We are living in a very horrific time," Sarsour said. "We are probably going to need to do this many times." Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, tweeted that she had been arrested. Protesters carried signs and chanted, "Where are the children?" and "Abolish ICE!" "As a human being first and foremost, and as a citizen of this nation, I think everyone should rise up and protect these babies, protect these families," said Minerva Garcia, who attended the protest. "All they want is an opportunity to start a new life." Actress Susan Sarandon joined the protest as it reached the Department of Justice. "We just want to send a message to our Congress that we're serious about it," said Lois Einolf, a protester. "We're not going to stop until they get this problem resolved." Contributing: Joel Banner Baird, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press and Herb Jackson, The Record<doc-sep>Hundreds of women staged a sit-in against family separation and detention Thursday in the Senate’s Hart Office Building. It followed a morning of protests and marching in DC from Freedom Plaza to the Department of Justice to Congress. 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 Getting ready to march to the Department of Justice to sit in #WomenDisobey #FamiliesBelongTogether Posted by The Undercurrent on Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Women’s March organized the act of nonviolent civil disobedience with the Center for Popular Democracy Action and CASA in Action. The protesters draped themselves in silver thermal blankets — evoking images of migrant kids in shelters — and chanted “Abolish ICE” and “We care.” Capitol Police said approximately 575 people had been arrested during the sit-in. The Women’s March said in a press release that a total of 630 women had been arrested. 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 The Women’s March, in planning this event, had asked women if they were ready to risk arrest. “Civil disobedience is a strategic intentional tactic,” Linda Sarsour, co-chair of the Women’s March, said last week. “We have to be helpful to the people we claim to fight with and for.” The protesters were calling for the abolition of ICE — a new rallying cry on the left — and demanding an end to family separation and detention. Lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) showed their support for the sit-in. Instantly iconic photo: Sen. Duckworth arriving at the #FamiliesBelongTogether protest with her tiny new daughter in tow pic.twitter.com/lgyjrClw27 — laura olin (@lauraolin) June 28, 2018 The Women’s March event began as protests erupt across the country in the wake of Trump’s family separation policy. The president signed an executive order changing that policy last week, but instead sought to detain families indefinitely. Activists are putting pressure on the government to provide more information and speed up the family reunification process. More than 1,000 marched in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, pushing for family reunification and to stop jailing immigrants. More than 1,000 people prepare to march on the federal courthouse in Brownsville to protest family separations at the border. @TexasTribune pic.twitter.com/m2S8U15Ksn — David Yaffe-Bellany (@yaffebellany) June 28, 2018 The Women’s March began Thursday morning with a march from Freedom Plaza to the Department of Justice, where protesters chanted outside the DOJ. From there, they headed to Congress for their act of civil disobedience. The protesters are in the street now, blocking traffic as they make their way to the Hart building, where 50 US senators have offices. #WomenDisobey #Immigration #DC pic.twitter.com/A462Dwngry — Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae) June 28, 2018 #WomenDisobey: Chanting ABOLISH ICE at the DOJ building, a demand I’m hearing more and more - cc: @SeanMcElwee pic.twitter.com/T6U9nRw6EM — Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) June 28, 2018 Thousands are expected to take to the streets on Saturday, June 30, in Washington, DC, and hundreds of other cities across the country for a nationwide Families Belong Together Rally. Jess Morales Rocketto, the political director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance — one of the groups organizing the June 30 event — said people are recognizing that they can’t let up the pressure. “It’s not just one day,” Morales Rocketto said. “We’re seeing folks turn out over and over and over again.”<doc-sep>Several hundreds of protesters, mostly women, joined by Democratic lawmakers, took center stage on Capitol Hill in a protest of the president's immigration policies on Thursday. Chanting "WE CARE" and "ABOLISH ICE," the protesters are demanding Congress act to end Trump's policies that criminalize and detain undocumented immigrants and separate detained families. ICE is a common acronym for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut visited the protesters to support their efforts. Sen. Tammy Duckworth was spotted in her wheelchair with her daughter in her lap. Protesters walked around wearing mylar blankets similar to those being handed out to immigrant children detained and separated from their families. “Women are outraged at the separation of families,” said Linda Sarsour, one of last year's Women’s March Organizer. “We are outraged of all the things that are unfolding in our country." "We are here to say we’re ready to sacrifice and we’re ready to leave our jobs, leave our families to come and take this act of civil disobedience here,” she said. US Capitol Police arrested 575 people at the protest in the Senate building and charged them a $50 citation for unlawfully demonstrating. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, and actress Susan Sarandon both tweeted they were arrested. The march began near the Department of Justice, where speakers rallied supporters by sharing their experiences with immigration and calling for action. Before the march, protesters were split into four groups to review the procedures if arrested. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas called for ongoing mobilization beyond Thursday's protest. “This is not a day event,” Lee told a crowd of protesters. “This is an everyday event.” People showed their support through handmade signs, including one that read “Don’t have a heart of I.C.E.” Others marked “We Care” on their palms. Still, other protesters wore jackets with “I really care. Do you?” painted in white on their backs, a reaction to the controversy that followed First Lady Melania Trump’s trip to the southwest to visit detained children. As she boarded a plane in Washington D.C, photographers could clearly read the message "I really don't care. Do u?" on the back of her jacket, which reportedly retails from Zara for $39. While the First Lady took the jacket off before exiting the plane, it was widely seen as an inappropriate choice of clothing. This is a developing story. Please refresh for details.<doc-sep>
Protesters at the June 28 demonstration. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc. Ahead of the nationwide protest against the Trump administration’s family-separation policy planned for this Saturday, more than 2,000 women marched from the Department of Justice to the Hart Senate building in Washington, D.C., to demand the end of immigrant detention, family separation, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The act of nonviolent civil disobedience, organized by the Women’s March, started at the DoJ, where women blockaded the building’s entrance during the lunch hour. Then, protesters — who wore white, at the organizers’ request — marched to the Hart building, where they covered themselves with foil blankets that resemble those given to immigrant children in detention centers, and chanted “Abolish ICE” and “Where are the kids?” A handful of Democratic politicians also joined in, including senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Tammy Duckworth, and Mazie Hirono, as well as Pramila Jayapal, the congresswoman who helped plan Saturday’s nationwide Families Belong Together protests. “This is what democracy looks like,” one woman in attendance tweeted with the demonstration’s hashtag, #WomenDisobey, which many protesters used. “Women are powerful,” Palestinian-American activist and organizer Linda Sarsour tweeted, along with a few other hashtags: #EndFamilyDetention, #EndFamilySeparation, and #AbolishICE. Other women documented the mass arrests of protesters, of which there were 630, according to the Women’s March. According to reports, Representative Jayapal and the actress Susan Sarandon were among those arrested. #womendisobey rally in the Hart Senate building in D.C. Arrests are being made.pic.twitter.com/ADWM92efHY — Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) June 28, 2018 First group of protesters were just arrested and led out by police. The crowd went nuts. Susan Sarandon is in the second group of arrests. She waves to the ladies still sitting and singing as she was led away. #womendisobey #dc #immigration pic.twitter.com/bumk7JJbJo — Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae) June 28, 2018 The scene inside Hart atrium this afternoon as Capitol police started arresting women engaging in mass civil disobedience to protest family separation at our border. #WomenDisobey pic.twitter.com/kSURUqHju2 — Sasha Stashwick (@SashaLyutse) June 28, 2018 Foil blankets are piling up as women are arrested here at the Senate. @RepJayapal joined us to demand an end to immigrant detention. Photo credit @KishaBari pic.twitter.com/bEe7pi4Z2U — Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018 After her arrest, Jayapal promised to be back in the streets for the Families Belong Together protests this Saturday. “Not in our country,” she tweeted. “Not in our name. June 30 we’re putting ourselves in the street again.” 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 Trump signed an executive order ending the family-separation policy on June 20, but he took no action to reunite the 2,000 immigrant children who were ripped away from their parents from the original iteration of this cruel and inhumane policy. It’s for this reason that women showed up — and will continue to show up — to send a message to the Trump Administration: “We care.” “As a woman and as a mother, I refuse to stay silent as parents on the border are separated from their kids,” Women’s March co-chair Tamika Mallory said after her arrest. “America has a deep history of separating Black women from their children, but we fought back. Our fight won’t end until all mothers are reunited with their children, which is why we are demanding an end to immigrant detention once and for all.”