Rally held where asylum-seeking mothers are being detained in SeaTac

A rally was held Saturday protesting the detention of asylum-seeking mothers in SeaTac. Dozens of mothers detained there have been separated from their children.

“Bring your signs, bring your noise makers! Let’s let the mothers know that they are not alone! No estan solas!” a Facebook event page for the demonstration reads.

The event had more than 1,000 people listed as interested in attending at the federal detention center in SeaTac.

Washington state leaders, including Gov. Inslee, spoke at around 12:30 p.m. ahead of the rally.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal said she met with the detained women for hours Saturday.

"I was able to meet with all of the women that are being held there. ... They come from sixteen countries. The vast majority of them are seeking political asylum," Jayapal said. "A huge number of them are mothers whose children were taken away from them when they were apprehended at the border or when they turned themselves in."

"They literally never had a chance to say goodbye to their children," Jayapal said.

She also said the vast majority of the detained mothers have no idea where their children are.

Jayapal called the separation "heartbreaking."

KIRO 7 was at the rally and will have a full report on-air at 5.

See time-stamped updates below. 

Lawyers from the Northwest Immigration Rights Project are slowly getting access to interview the asylum seekers who were sent to SeaTac. They've learned there are 177 women and 32 men; it's not known yet how many have children.

A father of twins, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is appalled. “We're now taking mothers and separating them from young children, you know it's a new low for our country.”

He and Gov. Jay Inslee sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement saying the Trump administration is “inflicting intentional gratuitous and permanent trauma on young children and their parents.”

“We've asked where are these children, are they here in Washington state, why are they in a prison in the first place?”

Ferguson says he has a team of lawyers looking to see if there is a basis for a lawsuit to stop the separations, but acknowledges they may be wrong, but not illegal.

Cox Media Group