Zak Ringelstein, Maine's Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, was arrested on Friday outside a detention center in Texas after he demanded to be allowed in the facility and then refused to leave, The Daily Caller reported Friday.
Ringelstein had announced Wednesday he was traveling to the facility to deliver toys, books and blankets to the children being held there because of their status as illegal immigrants.
In an exchange with a border agent at the facility, Ringelstein maintained the children inside were being deprived of essential items like water, books and blankets.
The agent told him legally they "cannot accept [the items] into our facility," and suggested he give what he brought to "other organizations that we've been working with that you can provide them those items."
"If you truly, in your heart, want to deliver this, that's the way to get them this," the agent said.
Dozens of police cars and border agents began to show up and another agent accused Ringelstein of loitering. The border agent he had spoken with previously pointed out that the officers who had arrived because of his protestations prevented them from being able to work on other issues like "rescues and responding to car crashes."
"You are literally imprisoning children here," Ringelstein said. "So let's think about the equivalency of that."
Then an officer told Ringelstein he would have to move his car because he was blocking the way for another car that was dropping off "prisoners."
"Are we really talking about children? Are we actually calling them prisoners now? Is that under your enforcement that they're called prisoners?" Ringelstein asked.
"We do have people that are under arrest,” replied the agent he originally dealt with.
When asked what people were under arrest for, the agent replied, “for illegally entering the country … They've broken the law. This is a country of laws is it not?"
Ringelstein then asked the agent if she would put her own children in jail, to which she replied, "If they broke the law, they would have to face the consequences."
The agent continued, explaining media and lawmakers had already visited the facility, but stressed "the general public cannot" be allowed inside.
A man accompanying Ringelstein asked why they could not enter and take pictures of the children inside.
"Because there's children in there that we need to protect," she responded. "We're protecting the privacy of the people we have in detention."
Ringelstein then began to refer to the detention center as "Trump's interment camps" and was eventually arrested.
"Zak is now a political prisoner of the Trump regime," a tweet from his personal Twitter page reads, which was also live tweeting the situation.
Ringelstein, a former school teacher running against incumbent GOP Sen. Angus King, is currently being held in a Texas jail on suspicion of criminal trespass, a misdemeanor that could result in six months in a county jail and a $2,000 fine, according to another tweet.
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