And in New York City, three Democratic members of Congress were among 10 activists arrested at a nonviolent civil disobedience action outside Trump Tower Tuesday, as they protested President Trump’s plan to rescind DACA—an immigration program that shields 800,000 young immigrants from deportation. Among those arrested were Congressmembers Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.
Rep. Luis Gutiérrez: “We’re going to Donald Trump’s residence here in New York City, and we’re going to denounce the end of DACA, and we’re going to demand justice for our immigrant community, and for him to end his white supremacist, xenophobic attacks against our community.”
Rep. Raúl Grijalva: “You have to make the point. The point is that we need a clean DREAM Act, and we need it to be done immediately, and there’s urgency to it.”
Melissa Mark-Viverito: “We are here united. We are not going to stand for bigoted policies that rip our families apart. That is not what this nation is about, and that is not what this nation supports.”
That last voice was Melissa Mark-Viverito, speaker of the New York City Council, who was also arrested Tuesday along with Congressmember Adriano Espaillat of New York during the nonviolent civil disobedience action outside Trump Tower. To see Democracy Now!'s full report on Tuesday's protest in support of DACA and undocumented DREAMers, and our interview with Congressmember Luis Gutiérrez, visit our website at democracynow.org.