WATCH: State leaders attend rally for asylum-seeking mothers detained
Jun 8, 2018, 1:50 PM | Updated: Jun 9, 2018, 5:23 pm
Demonstrators gathered outside a federal prison in SeaTac Saturday afternoon to protest the detention of mothers at the facility. The mothers have been separated from their children who crossed the Mexico-Texas border with them.
RELATED: Mothers detained in Washington after being separated from children
Officials called the detention an attack on immigrants by the Trump administration. They accused Trump of child abuse and violating human rights. King County Executive Dow Constantine also said he is exploring how he can stop federal authorities from using the county airport to transport people from the border to the SeaTac facility.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Governor Jay Inslee also attended the event. Inslee focused his frustration at President Trump saying:
It’s about time some Republicans stand up on their hind legs and stand up to Donald Trump. The United Nations recognized this gross violation of human rights, but you don’t need the United Nations, we need this nation to stand up and that means Republicans, quit being afraid to stand up for what you know is morally right. Why would Donald Trump be so inhumane not to at least tell these mothers where their children are? Why would you possibly want to be so depraved? There is a reason for this. It’s because they want to terrorize these people. They want to terrorize people who have been victimized by violence. Instead Washington is going to de everything it can to stop this.
Inslee also said: “Cruelty to children should not be part of American policy. Intentional infliction of injury to children is below the standards of America. In America, the willful infliction of trauma against children is not acceptable. America is better than this.”
“Bring your signs, bring your noise makers! Let’s let the mothers know that they are not alone! No estan solas!” the Facebook event for the demonstration read.
“No estan solas,” means “you are not alone.”
The Facebook event had nearly 2,000 people interested in attending the demonstration at the federal detention center in SeaTac. The event read:
Join us for a special solidarity day – #WhereAreTheParents? We know – they are at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac. We will be there in solidarity with the 200+ immigrant mothers being imprisoned there, separated from their children after arriving at the US-Mexico border seeking asylum.
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project confirmed Thursday that there were at least two mothers at the facility reporting that US officials broke up their family at the border. It is unclear how many more are there under similar circumstances, but rumored numbers range from 60 to 200. They have been sent to Washington to be detained while going through the court system for illegally crossing the border. It is not known where their children have been sent.
The mothers are caught up in a new, controversial immigration policy put in place by the Trump administration.
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