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I called my staff and I said, "I need to go to the airport. Meet me out there." So I went with Sarah, my district director, and I think she reminded me that she was going directly from her daughter's birthday party to the airport. And we arrived at the airport, and I know Senator [Jeff] Merkley was there as well, and a lot of people from the community. The PDX International Airport is operated by the Port of Portland, and they had set up to make sure that we had a safe place to make our voices heard, kept an area clear for protesters.
"The right to protest is fundamental to American democracy. Protest has been at the heart of movements for social and racial justice throughout this country's history. Protest is essential and effective. It unites people seeking justice, brings attention to pressing moral issues, and can hold elected officials accountable.
"Such actions not only threaten to exacerbate existing structures of racism in the education system and broader society, but also infringe on an ideal the Department regularly invokes -- free speech," wrote Education and Labor Committee chairman Bobby Scott and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, chair of the panel's civil rights and human services subcommittee.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), said it was "disgusting that this administration permanently separated families, leaving 545 children alone." Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) also criticized the Trump administration. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) said the Trump administration "had no plan for reunification before initiating this cruel & inhumane policy of child separation, and the damage it has done is immeasurable." House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) called the report "outrageous & unacceptable" and accused the Trump administration of xenophobia.
Bonamici congratulated Rainier for the completion of the project. "It took everyone working together, and it's really a testament to the perseverance of this community," she said.
At the federal level, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills in July that would provide over $60 billion to support and stabilize the childcare industry, but the bills remain stalled in the Senate. "I've heard from many women in Oregon that the lack of child care during COVID-19 is forcing them – and women they know – to leave the workforce," said Bonamici in a statement. "That's extremely troubling.