Click HERE if you’re having trouble viewing the gallery on your mobile device. By Marissa J. Lang | Washington Post WASHINGTON – They came from all over, took planes and buses from 47 states, slept at friends’ homes or in churches and prepared to be arrested Thursday in Washington, D.C. Most of the participants were white women, stumbling over the syllables of Spanish-language chants. Many had never faced arrest before. But here they were. Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our Morning Report weekday newsletter. 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. They 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. Then the arrests began. 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.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., joined in the protest and was led out with marchers by Capitol Police. 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. Ana Maria Archila, executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, said calling for the disbandment of ICE “would have seemed absurd even a few months ago.” But now it is central to the mission of her group and Thursday’s march. “This country has finally been exposed to the brutality and inhumanity of immigration enforcement,” she said. “This barrage of injustices has inspired us to say, ‘No more. We will not be silent. We will not obey.’ ” After gathering at Freedom Plaza, the group marched to the Justice Department before heading to the Hart building, singing hymns and protest songs all the way. As they marched along Pennsylvania Avenue, past the Trump International Hotel, the crowd began to chant, “Shame,” then burst into boos and demanded, “Where are the children?” Approaching the Justice Department, the group fell silent, raising fists and hands in the air. Several federal workers on a lunch break wandered over to the fringe of the protest, taking pictures and clapping as the group of white-clad women walked on. When they reached the front of the Justice Department, hundreds crowded the street and sat. Police cars blocked the area as officers allowed the sit-in to proceed. Several drivers who were able to squeeze by honked and gestured in solidarity. In the Hart building, onlookers cheered as the women sang and chanted. Senate staff members in one office held a pink sign in the window: “Feminists are the majority.” The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown hit resistance this week after the House rejected a border bill championed by the president, and a federal judge ordered the government to reunite immigrant families within a month. But organizers said that has done little to abate national outrage. Thursday’s march was one of several Washington, D.C., demonstrations this week to rebuke Trump’s immigration policies. On Wednesday, dozens of activists, including several who were recipients of the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which gives temporary protection to immigrants illegally brought into the country as children, rallied outside the Washington headquarters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and called for the organization’s dissolution. They shouted at police and implored workers peering out the windows to “quit your job.”<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>Hundreds of women plan to join an act of civil disobedience in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to protest the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy. The protest is organized by the Women's March, which did not specify what it was planning to do that would risk arrest for protesters. ADVERTISEMENT The Women's March first announced the planned "mass civil disobedience" last week. It held training meetings for those planning to participate on Wednesday. We’re in DC kicking off our direct action training for tomorrow’s #AbolishICE #EndFamilyDetention action right now! Hundreds of women are here, ready to escalate. #WomenDisobey @tkocreative pic.twitter.com/3eFt3RXf9S — Women's March (@womensmarch) June 27, 2018 TOMORROW: #WomenDisobey because @ICEgov has got to go, because migration is not a crime, and because we won’t sit back while this administration puts people behind bars for seeking refuge and a better life. #AbolishICE #EndFamilyDetention https://t.co/5EQ5CUIr2u — Women's March (@womensmarch) June 28, 2018 Organizer Linda Sarsour told The Hill last week that the group was holding the protest even after President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE decided to sign an executive order ending the separation of migrant families. "The Women's March and our allies are advocating against child camps but we're not advocating for family camps," Sarsour said. "We don't trust this administration to follow through. We're also demanding answers for the hundreds of children who have already been separated from their families with no clarification about what that reunification plan looks like. This administration has not told us how they plan to reunite children who have already been separated from their families," she added.<doc-sep>
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