Officers arrested three Democratic congressmen outside of Trump Tower during a protest against President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration. From Fox News:
Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez and New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat were taken into custody by police, according to Grijalva’s campaign Twitter account and a Gutiérrez aide.Grijalva’s account tweeted that “Raúl was taken into custody in front of Trump Tower for civil disobedience along with Rep. Gutierrez and Rep. Espaillat.”Douglas Rivlin, Gutiérrez’s communications director, confirmed that the congressman was arrested.
Officers also arrested New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a potential mayor candidate.
The protest was to show disdain for Trump decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), but he hasn’t technically ended it yet. He pushed it to Congress and gave them a six month period to make changes or keep it as is. Remember, DACA was never a law or executive order. It was just a memo sent out by the DHS under President Barack Obama.
From The Washington Post:
“We’re taking the necessary steps to make it clear to President Trump, the Republicans and the Democrats that we will continue this peaceful fight for DREAMers and immigrants as long as it takes to enact legislation and put DREAMers in a safe place,” Gutiérrez said in a statement provided by his spokesman after the arrest. “A few Congressmen and elected-officials gathering in front of Trump Tower doesn’t mean much if it is not backed up by the grassroots and allies and today we are standing with diverse allies to make sure Congress and the President do more than just talk about solutions, they actually follow through with action.”
This isn’t Gutiérrez’s first arrest. From The Hill:
Tuesday marked the second time in five weeks that Gutierrez was arrested as part of an immigration protest.Gutierrez was also arrested in mid-August outside the White House during a rally commemorating the fifth anniversary of DACA.He had been arrested outside the White House twice before that, in 2010 and 2011, during similar protests. Gutierrez was additionally arrested at a Chicago Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in March while protesting deportations of DACA recipients.
Gutiérrez recently caused an uproar when he attacked White House Chief of Staff John Kelly about Trump’s decision, “calling the retired Marine general ‘a hypocrite who is a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear'” and that he “has no honor and should be drummed out of the White House along with the white supremacists and those enabling the president’s actions by ‘just following orders.’”
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has called on Gutiérrez to apologize and reminded everyone that Kelly’s son died in Afghanistan in 2010. His son’s loss made Kelly “the highest ranking service member to lose a child in Afghanistan or Iraq.”
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