3 members of Congress arrested outside Trump Tower

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last updated 20 September 2017

Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) were arrested Tuesday on disorderly conduct charges during a protest outside Trump Tower in Manhattan.

The three members of Congress were part of a small group of demonstrators calling for a law to help undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States by their parents as children. Protesters sat down on Fifth Avenue and wouldn't move, The Associated Press reports, and they were eventually handcuffed and led away by police, who said they issued desk appearance tickets. They have all been released.

Before the protest, organizers said the lawmakers planned on getting arrested, and on All In with Chris Hayes after his release, Gutierrez said the goal was to keep the spotlight on the issue. When working with immigrants, "you see the fear, the trepidation that exists, and it's hurtful, it's painful to see that," he said. "I want to say, 'We're fighting.'" Trump, in town for his United Nations address, was supposed to be at Trump Tower at the time, but wasn't on the premises.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.