Thread: Liberty Island evacuated after woman climbs onto Statue of Liberty pedestal

"Okoumou, a Congolese immigrant who lives in Staten Island, has been involved with activism before. She was reportedly arrested last year for injuring an officer while she was being apprehended during a protest outside of the Department of Labor and was also quoted at an anti-Trump protest outside Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) office. "

https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-sca...104147829.html


SHE NEEDS TO BE HAULED OFF AND DEPORTED OUT OF HERE!

WE DO NOT NEED HER "ACTIVISM" IN OUR COUNTRY!

GO HOME AND PROTEST ON YOUR SOIL!

We really really need to push for passing Cotton's RAISE ACT that reduces legal green card immigration by 50% and does a lot of other wonderful things to solve our illegal and excess legal immigration problems.

VOTE REPUBLICAN IN 2018!!

So was this women brought here under refugee status? All refugees allowed to come here should be forced to sign a contract that strictly prohibits that from publicly protesting our nations laws, law enforcement agencies, and anything else involving government until they become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Failure to adhere to the contract means deportation back to the country or refugee camp they came from!

It's ridiculous for us to allow any non-citizen refugee to bite the hand that reached out to them in their darkest moment!

Many of these people are inbred and they are mentally unstable. She has a LONG list of criminal violations and arrests.

She is an activist and is causing our country a lot of harm and disruption. She is tying up are courts with her lawlessness!

ORDER HER REMOVED FROM OUR COUNTRY BEFORE SHE INJURES OR KILLS SOMEONE!

WHEN THEY ARE "VETTED" ARE THEY GIVEN ANY MENTAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAM? GET HER OUT OF HERE!

Originally Posted by MW

So was this women brought here under refugee status? All refugees allowed to come here should be forced to sign a contract that strictly prohibits that from publicly protesting our nations laws, law enforcement agencies, and anything else involving government until they become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Failure to adhere to the contract means deportation back to the country or refugee camp they came from!

It's ridiculous for us to allow any non-citizen refugee to bite the hand that reached out to them in their darkest moment!

Was she even in the country legally?

The article said "Okoumou, a Congolese immigrant who lives in Staten Island

sadly in today's world the news calls everyone legal or illegal an immigrant.

If she is a citizen how did she become a citizen with this criminal record?

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Was she even in the country legally?

The article said "Okoumou, a Congolese immigrant who lives in Staten Island

sadly in today's world the news calls everyone legal or illegal an immigrant.

If she is a citizen how did she become a citizen with this criminal record?

I don't really know. The article isn't real clear on her current status. I'm assuming she is a refugee because I wouldn't expect an illegal with her arrest record to do something so stupid. As for being a citizen, no, I don't believe that is the case. If she was a citizen, she wouldn't have been identified as a Congolese immigrant. Everything we've been provided makes me think she is here as a refugee.

Originally Posted by MW

I don't really know. The article isn't real clear on her current status. I'm assuming she is a refugee because I wouldn't expect an illegal with her arrest record to do something so stupid. As for being a citizen, no, I don't believe that is the case. If she was a citizen, she wouldn't have been identified as a Congolese immigrant. Everything we've been provided makes me think she is here as a refugee.

Agree about not thinking an illegal would something so stupid, but they do.

The same could be said for a refugee, I'm thinking they should be extremely grateful another country took them in and gave them assistance, and the last thing they would do would be to cause trouble, but they do.

Woman who climbed Statue of Liberty in immigration protest found guilty

Magistrate judge Gabriel Gorenstein says Therese Patricia Okoumou’s political and moral motivations did not trump the law


Victoria Bekiempis in New York
Mon 17 Dec 2018 14.53 ESTFirst published on Mon 17 Dec 2018 14.33 EST

An activist has been found guilty of a series of federal crimes after she climbed on to the base of the Statue of Liberty this summer to protest against the US policy of separating migrant families and holding children in detention.

Magistrate judge Gabriel Gorenstein convicted Therese Patricia Okoumou, who goes by Patricia, on Monday afternoon after a one-day bench trial in New York, asserting that the protester’s political and moral motivations did not trump the law.


'Are they going to shoot me?': Statue of Liberty ​climber on her anti-Trump protest

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Okoumou had grown teary on Monday as she told a judge in New York about how the treatment of children at the US-Mexico border prompted her to scale the statue in a high-profile protest on the Fourth of July this year.

“I wanted to send a strong statement that children do not belong in cages,” said Okoumou, on Monday morning at the start of her trial at the Manhattan federal court.

“I went as high as I could,” she told the court, echoing a reflection she made shortly after her episode of civil disobedience in the summer as she explained how she had wanted to climb all the way up the statue, but feared for her life.

Okoumou, a Congo-born naturalized US citizen who lives in Staten Island, faced charges of trespassing and interfering with government agency functions, as well as disorderly conduct, in relation to her climb. She pleaded not guilty.

She was subject to a bench trial, not a jury trial, after Gorenstein ruled there was no entitlement to a jury trial for petty offenses. The charges collectively carry punishment of up to 18 months behind bars.

Okoumou’s main concern – as it has been since her climb, when she had to be retrieved by law enforcement officers attached to ropes – is the children, she said.

Although an executive order last summer reversed the policy of separating children from their parents upon crossing the border unlawfully, the Trump administration reportedly continues to do so by various means, also detaining children who have crossed the border unaccompanied, in hopes of claiming asylum or joining relatives already in the US.


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Several thousand migrant minors are being held at a growing detention camp near El Paso, Texas. Meanwhile, many children languish in deteriorating conditions on the Mexican side of the border.

And as Trump clamps down on asylum applications, many migrants find themselves in an administrative – and humanitarian – limbo.

Okoumou said she was distraught upon learning about the policy in April.

“I’m sorry that I’m crying,” an increasingly emotional Okoumou said in court, later explaining, “I couldn’t live with it.”

“It would never happen in my country – we don’t treat children like political bait,” she said. “I just have had nightmares and night sweats.”


'I must continue': Statue of Liberty climber still protesting despite facing prison

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One of Okoumou’s lawyers, renowned civil rights litigator Ron Kuby, asked whether she believed “you contributed in any way with the reunification of children with their parents?”

Assistant US attorney Brett Kalikow objected to the question.

“Relevance?” Gorenstein asked.

“Well, none, really, your honor,” Kuby said, prompting chuckles from the gallery.

Kuby then asked Okoumou at the end of his questioning whether she would make the climb again.

“Unfortunately, as long as our children are placed in cages, my moral values cause me to do something about it,” Okoumou said.

“So, is it your testimony you would do the same thing again?” Kuby pressed.

“Yes,” Okoumou replied.

Kalikow did not ask Okoumou – who wore a cobalt dress with the words “Seeking Asylum is NOT a Crime” for her court appearance – any questions.


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Earlier in the day, opening statements foreshadowed the tenor of the trial – while prosecutors would focus on rules, Okoumou’s supporters would focus on conscience.

“She knew that what she was doing was wrong and illegal,” Kalikow said in his opening statement. “Whether one sympathizes with the defendant politically and morally is not at issue in this case.”

Kuby responded in his opening that the family separation policy “created in her an imperative to act”.

“She did so on America’s most important day on America’s most important symbol.”

Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who has joined Okoumou’s legal team, sat in the front row of the gallery.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...us-immigration

Revoke her citizenship and send her back to her country.

This is not the FIRST time she has been in trouble and will not be the last.

GET HER OUT OF OUR COUNTRY BEFORE SHE HARMS OR KILLS SOMEONE WITH THE NEXT STUNT SHE WILL PULL!

SHE ADMITS SHE WILL DO IT AGAIN...NOW BOOT HER OUT OF HERE TODAY!