15 Protesters Arrested at Rally in Hart for DACA

By Eric Garcia and Bill Clark

Posted November 9, 2017 at 4:08pm

Immigration activists held a large rally in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Thursday, calling on Congress to help undocumented immigrants who received deferred action.

The protesters flooded the hallways of the building, hanging signs with calls to GOP leadership, before heading down to the center of the building, which has a lower floor that opens up into an atrium. There, several protesters were arrested.

Capitol Police said a total of 15 people were arrested.

Capitol Police arrest a woman who was holding a banner demanding a clean Dream Act. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

One of the banners said, “We need a clean DREAM Act by December.”

Hart Senate Office Building on Thursday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., gives a thumbs up to protesters. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Protesters hold a banner demanding a clean Dream Act in the Hart Senate Office Building. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

In 2012, former President Barack Obama instituted deferred action from deportation for undocumented immigrants who arrived in their youth. President Donald Trump’s administration announced earlier this year it would end the program, known as DACA, and asked Congress to develop new legislation to address the issue of undocumented youth.