"In a government of and by and for the people, there should be no permanent ruling class. There are only citizens."
— Barack Obama while accepting the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"When you hear about how great the economy is doing, let's just remember when this recovery started." — Barack Obama today at the University of Illinois.
"It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause … He is just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years."
— Barack Obama
Therese Patricia Okoumou, the woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty to protest separating families at the border, faces 3 misdemeanor charges. Each carries a maximum sentence of 6 months in prison.
Rise and Resist, the activist group who unfurled an "ABOLISH ICE" banner at the Statue of Liberty, says it’s working to get legal representation for Therese Patricia Okoumou: "We support Patricia."
Statue of Liberty climber Therese Okoumou has pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct and interfering with government agency functions.
BREAKING: The U.S. is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council.
Nikki Haley said the U.S. withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council over its "chronic bias" against Israel. The U.S. lobbied against an agenda item on rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza and voted against investigating Israel's killing of 100+ Palestinians in Gaza.
Rights groups including Human Rights Campaign, CARE and Freedom House condemned the U.S. pullout from the UN Human Rights Council, saying it will "make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world."
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen says she won’t apologize for enforcing the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border.
11,432 children are currently being held in U.S. custody.
Former First Lady Laura Bush called the Trump administration’s "zero tolerance" policy, which separates families when they cross the border illegally, "cruel" and "immoral."
Up to 200 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border are being held in cages in a warehouse in McAllen, Texas. They are using large sheets of foil as blankets.