Woman Scales Austin Building To Protest Migrant Detention Policy

EAST AUSTIN, TEXAS — An activist protesting the Trump administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy involving the separation of migrant children from their parents scaled an East Austin building while keeping emergency workers at bay before climbing down eight hours later.

The woman's protest began just before 12:15 p.m., ending some eight hours later. After the protracted standoff, Senior Police Officer Bino Cardenas told reporters the woman was taken to a hospital for medical evaluation before being arrested for trespassing. All told, 70 officers were dispatched to the scene in response to the incident, Cardenas noted in his press briefing.

The woman identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou, 44, of New Jersey was able to scale to the top of the six-story Southwest Key building, 7901 Cameron Rd., without the benefit of a harness or climbing gear. The Austin-based nonprofit Southwest Key operates immigration detention centers used to house children separated from their migrant parents upon their entry into the U.S. as part of a zero=tolerance policy toward undocumented immigrants implemented by Donald Trump.

In an earlier tweet, Okoumou's fellow activists alerted to her protest via a Twitter live feed at the scene. Such coordination buttressed Cadenas' assessment that the protest was part of a well-orchestrated demonstration, an insight further reinforced given the presence of other protesters on the ground below, one of whom referred to Okoumou as his "comrade" during interviews with television reporters covering the incident.

Okoumou is a well-known activist, using her climbing prowess in staging similar demonstrations at the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel tower in the past. "Therese Patricia Okoumou is risking arrest at an Austin,Texas, children’s immigration detention center," a Twitter post from fellow activists read as she ascended the structure that doubled as an announcement about her protest. Accompanying hashtags to the missive were #BorderWall #USA

"Free the children! Let them go!" Okoumou could be heard shouting once she reached the top of the structure some 60 feet high. Earlier, she unfurled a banner on the face of the structure that read "Free The Children" before it was ripped away by police.

Related story: DOJ, FBI Investigating Austin-Based Migrant Shelter Operator

Throughout the afternoon, local television news stations providing unsettling live feeds of the woman walking precariously along the structure's edges, supporting herself with her gloved hands alone as she negotiated the narrow ledge. At other points, the woman was seen dangling from overhead beams housed within an architectural netting atop the structure.

By late afternoon, the woman made repeated requests for water from arriving police, to no avail. At one point, an officer situated inside the safe confines of a "cherry picker" implement attached to a fire truck could be seen reaching out with a bottle of water before pulling his arm back, perhaps using the promise of the thirst-quenching liquid as bargaining chip in convincing the woman to end her protest.

Fears arose from fellow protesters at ground level that Okoumou could become dehydrated and dizzy after the protracted protest as temperatures approached 70 degrees on Wednesday, with expressed concern about her potentially losing her balance from ensuing weakness.

In his impromptu remarks to reporters following the incident, Cardenas noted the inherent danger of Okoumou's protest given the potential of her losing her balance and toppling to the ground — a grisly accident that would have been witnessed by children attending classes at the adjacent Southwest Key school. But even while positing the protest as a dangerous publicity stunt, Cadenas didn't provide insights into how police reconciled that fear with the tactic of denying the woman water as the afternoon dragged into evening. Questions related to the wisdom of denying the woman drinking water even amid fears of her falling were not addressed during the officer's press briefing.

By late afternoon, the Austin Fire Department had dispatched the "cherry picker" extension containing police officers attempting to negotiate with the woman. Despite coming close to her and being able to talk to her from a short distance, the woman eluded capture for the better part of the afternoon by walking across netting-contained beams in slow but deliberate back-and-forth fashion.

It was during this time that a police officer was seen taking away a backpack the woman left behind in her haste as she avoided contact with nearing emergency personnel now essentially able to make eye contact with the benefit of the cherry picker. Anecdotal reports suggested the woman had rations and water in the bag — as the protester reportedly was intent on staying up in the air for a couple of days in making her statement — but was soon devoid of the contents once it was confiscated.

The woman could be seen balancing herself on beams located at the top of the structure shrouded by a translucent netting-style architectural feature at the top, a seemingly merely aesthetic structure adjacent to the main Southwest Key building. The two openings atop the structure were blocked by officers, effectively cornering the protester in the underbelly of the scaffolding-like architecture. Still, she remained elusive as she held on to overhead beams while walking across parallel ones like a trained gynmast.

The structure Okoumou chose to scale made for easy climbing for someone of her experience in scaling tall structures. The aesthetic feature complementing the Southwest Key building lacks floors in what is really an elaborate encasing for a series of beams set off by netting, giving the makeshift catwalk a silhouette form. Given the structure's design, Okoumou was able to deftly evade capture from emergency workers seemingly averse to try to balance on the beams themselves, reduced to waiting her out in a precarious cat-and-mouse game as she traversed slowly back and forth across the narrow path to gain distance from police by then stationed on openings on either side.

In the end, Okoumou scaled down the structure on her own steam just before 8:30 p.m. after refusing to get into the bucket of the cherry picker, according to the officer's account to reporters in recapping the incident. She slowly climbed back down from the 60-foot structure before jumping to the ground, cat-like, from about 15 feet and softly tumbling on her back as she hit the earth below. Emergency personnel could be seen attending to her gently before transporting her to the hospital for medical evaluation.

Cadenas' press briefing on the eight-hour ordeal took a mere eight minutes, thereabouts. One creative line of questioning from a reporter attempted to draw the briefing officers' own thoughts on migrant child detention. "I'm not going to answer that," Cadenas said succinctly and with palpable weariness. For Okoumou and the dozens of emergency personnel, the unusual standoff made for a long day. Cadenas — a fixture at press briefings during which he indulges all manner of questions from reporters — clearly was in no mood to abide the last interrogator.

That reporter's question — delving more into into politics than police logistics in securing the scene — effectively brought the impromptu press conference to an abrupt end as Cadenas' took no further questions. Again, the incident made for a long day — for everyone involved.

Okoumou is no stranger to such dramatic protests. On July 4, 2018, she climbed to the base of the Statue of Liberty to protest U.S. policy marked by separation of migrant families. She is due to be sentenced for that demonstration in March, facing up to 18 months in federal prison, according to reports. Last Thanksgiving, she launched a similar protest at the Eiffel Tower in France also while protesting U.S. immigration policy.

Critics of Trump's policy of separating migrant families reaching U.S. soil — implemented as harsh deterrent against immigration — are legion. After widespread backlash, the Trump administration suspended the policy but not before many young children were placed in detention centers apart from their parents. Trump administration officials have since conceded hundreds if not thousands (the administration hasn't provided an exact number) of children who remain in detention centers might never be reunited with their parents again. The policy was implemented so suddenly, no mechanism to track immigrant parents and their children was put into place in implementing the separation policy.

Southwest Key has emerged as one of the most enthusiastic participants in housing detained migrant children at the behest of the federal government — and a frequent target of protesters decrying the detention of immigrant children. The need to house children ripped from their parents' arms per Trump policy has yielded something of a bonanza for those specializing in child detention. Belying the nonprofit status of Southwest Key, its founder and CEO, Juan Sanchez, has emerged as one of the nation's highest-paid in the sector — earning some $1.5 million, more than his counterpart at the exponentially larger American Red Cross.

The local nonprofit's brisk revenue intakes amid the Trump immigration crackdown have raised the interest of investigators. The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation to determine whether Austin-based Southwest Key — now the nation's largest operator of shelters for migrant children — misused federal money, according to reports. The New York Times last year reported that the U.S. Attorneys' Office for the Western District of Texas is examining the nonprofit group's finances in a probe being conducted in tandem with the FBI.

The investigation was sparked by a previous Times report investigating Southwest Key business dealings, including the revelation of Sanchez's hefty salary. Southwest Key operates two dozen shelters for migrant children in Texas, Arizona and California. In addition, the group runs charter schools, including East Austin College Prep Academy.

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