Meet the Congolese woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty

Why did Therese Patricia Okoumou do it?

You cannot call her act a stunt but rather a protest. Okoumou who is an immigrant climbed the world famous statue to protest the separation of immigrant families at the American border.

Defiant at first, she told the authorities who climbed the Statue of Liberty to come to get her that she wasn't coming down till "all the children are released."

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Therese Patricia Okoumou who has been living in New York for a decade starting climbing the statue at around 3 pm. She would go on to have a standoff with the police officers at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

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Wearing a T-shirt with the words “Trumpcare Makes Us Sick,” Okoumou's protest once again brought attention to the controversial action of the Trump administration of separating families at the US-Mexico border.

Therese Patricia Okoumou arrested and taken to court

By 6 pm police officers had brought her down and arrested. On Thursday, July 5, 2018, Magistrate Judge Ona Wang ordered Ms Okoumou to be released after an arraignment.

Therese Patricia Okoumou is reportedly a member of a protest group known as Rise and Resist. The group later told CNN that Okoumou's climb was not part of its activities to protest the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies.

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"We thought we wanted to do something on our Independence Day, a day that obviously is meant for reflection on the ideals on which this nation was founded. This country has posited itself as a beacon. Right now, we have a government that is actively turning its back on those ideals" Jay W. Walker an organizer of Rise and Resist told CNN.

Therese Patricia Okoumou's defiant act gained a lot of praise on social media.

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Donald Trump reacts to Therese Patricia Okoumou

Of course, President Trump also commented on her act by calling her "a clown" according to The Washington Post.

In her address to reporters at the court house, Okoumou said "Trump has wrecked this country apart. It is depressing, it is outrageous,” she said. “I can say a lot of things about this monster, but I will stop at this: his draconian zero-tolerance policy on immigration has to go. In a democracy, we do not put children in cages. Period."

She made this statement while wearing a "White Supremacy Is Terrorism" t-shirt.