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As the heart-wrenching story of a Honduran mother having her baby daughter ripped from her arms by federal authorities as she was breastfeeding provided yet another example of the immense cruelty of President Donald Trump's family separation policy, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Wednesday led a sit-in outside the offices of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) demanding that asylum-seekers be released from government detention and reunited with their loved ones immediately.
"Every hour that goes by is another hour of trauma for these moms, dads, little boys, girls, and babies," Jayapal--who was joined in the act of civil disobedience by a group of House Democrats and immigrant rights activists--wrote on Twitter.
"What do you call a country that institutionalizes child abuse?" added Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) from the steps of the CBP building in the nation's capital. "Tragically, today, we call it the United States of America. As a mother, as a grandmother, as the proud daughter of two immigrant parents, we will not stand for that... We will fight until we win."
The House Democrats' sit-in comes just days after Jayapal visited a federal detention facility in Washington, where mostly women asylum-seekers told her one horrifying story after another about awful living conditions at Border Patrol facilities, abuse they've experienced at the hands of immigration authorities, and the pain of being separated from their young children.
In a speech on Wednesday, Jayapal--who last week called for Trump's family separation practices to be completely defunded--vowed to continue fighting for migrants who are being detained unjustly and denied a fair hearing.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |

As the heart-wrenching story of a Honduran mother having her baby daughter ripped from her arms by federal authorities as she was breastfeeding provided yet another example of the immense cruelty of President Donald Trump's family separation policy, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Wednesday led a sit-in outside the offices of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) demanding that asylum-seekers be released from government detention and reunited with their loved ones immediately.
"Every hour that goes by is another hour of trauma for these moms, dads, little boys, girls, and babies," Jayapal--who was joined in the act of civil disobedience by a group of House Democrats and immigrant rights activists--wrote on Twitter.
"What do you call a country that institutionalizes child abuse?" added Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) from the steps of the CBP building in the nation's capital. "Tragically, today, we call it the United States of America. As a mother, as a grandmother, as the proud daughter of two immigrant parents, we will not stand for that... We will fight until we win."
The House Democrats' sit-in comes just days after Jayapal visited a federal detention facility in Washington, where mostly women asylum-seekers told her one horrifying story after another about awful living conditions at Border Patrol facilities, abuse they've experienced at the hands of immigration authorities, and the pain of being separated from their young children.
In a speech on Wednesday, Jayapal--who last week called for Trump's family separation practices to be completely defunded--vowed to continue fighting for migrants who are being detained unjustly and denied a fair hearing.

As the heart-wrenching story of a Honduran mother having her baby daughter ripped from her arms by federal authorities as she was breastfeeding provided yet another example of the immense cruelty of President Donald Trump's family separation policy, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Wednesday led a sit-in outside the offices of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) demanding that asylum-seekers be released from government detention and reunited with their loved ones immediately.
"Every hour that goes by is another hour of trauma for these moms, dads, little boys, girls, and babies," Jayapal--who was joined in the act of civil disobedience by a group of House Democrats and immigrant rights activists--wrote on Twitter.
"What do you call a country that institutionalizes child abuse?" added Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) from the steps of the CBP building in the nation's capital. "Tragically, today, we call it the United States of America. As a mother, as a grandmother, as the proud daughter of two immigrant parents, we will not stand for that... We will fight until we win."
The House Democrats' sit-in comes just days after Jayapal visited a federal detention facility in Washington, where mostly women asylum-seekers told her one horrifying story after another about awful living conditions at Border Patrol facilities, abuse they've experienced at the hands of immigration authorities, and the pain of being separated from their young children.
In a speech on Wednesday, Jayapal--who last week called for Trump's family separation practices to be completely defunded--vowed to continue fighting for migrants who are being detained unjustly and denied a fair hearing.