Rep. Blanc arrested, then released following D.C. demonstration

Arizona State Rep. Isela Blanc, D-Tempe, was arrested Monday in Washington, D.C. while advocating for undocumented immigrants.

She has since been released, according to Robbie Sherwood, who speaks for House Democrats.

Blanc was in Washington participating in a sit-in along with advocates from Living United For Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, and national groups like United We Dream and Center for Popular Democracy.

The groups demanded that Congress pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill protecting the more than 700,000 young undocumented immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program or DACA.

The Trump administration rescinded DACA in September last year, and March 5 was supposed to be the day the program ends. Last month, however, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower court order that placed an injunction on the termination plan and which required the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue accepting DACA applications.

Blanc is one of two state legislators who are formerly undocumented. She came to the United States from Mexico on a visa when she was 6 years old and was undocumented until 16, when she became a legal permanent resident.

The other is Rep. Cesar Chavez, D-Phoenix, who came to the United States from Mexico in 1991, when he was 3 years old.

Rep. Tony Navarette, D-Phoenix, who is in D.C. for a conference and was at the demonstration, said Blanc was arrested for civil disobedience for blocking traffic on the National Mall after police tried to disperse the crowd of roughly 500 people.

LUCHA members and other local activists were also arrested, Navarette said.

United States Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said 68 people were arrested for “unlawful demonstration activities” on the National Mall. They were each charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, and 28 of them were also charged with resisting arrest.

Another 19 people were arrested in the Longworth House Office building and charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding.

Navarette said the groups will meet with staffers from U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake’s offices, as well as Rep. Ruben Gallego’s office on Tuesday, to lobby for immigration reform.