Those who worked with USAID know the cuts in aid will kill children.

Julie Hanson Swanson of Arlington was born in Winooski, Vermont. She is a classic compassionate American woman: her great grandparents came to the US from Ireland, she joined the Girl Scouts and played varsity field hockey for her public high school. She volunteered in Morocco with the Peace Corps in 1981. Swanson moved to Washington after the Peace Corps to serve her country. She retired in 2020 from the federal government with 26 years of service with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Peace Corps. She’s been married for 33 years. 

So why was this compassionate person from Arlington arrested two weeks ago? 

Swanson got arrested for “showing up” at a peaceful protest at the Cannon Building Rotunda. She went because she knows what USAID does and she knows how many children are going to die because the U.S. is no longer funding life-saving programs. That is why she went to Capitol Hill on Feb. 26 to show our elected representatives what it will look like if that aid is not restored: dead people. The “die-in” is a form of protest used when the stakes are high. 

Swanson was briefed beforehand that they would receive three warnings from the Capitol Police. The third warning would result in an arrest if they didn’t move. And so when the third warning came, Swanson and the other demonstrators got arrested. 

“The Capitol policeman who arrested me was courteous,” she said. “He asked if I needed help getting up from the floor and I told him I did. 

“He put zip ties around my wrists and led me into the van for prisoners. I’d never been arrested before so I didn’t know what to expect but they drove us to the Capitol Police Headquarters and we sat there for a while, some of us in a fair amount of discomfort from the zip ties, which we asked them to loosen. They took down all our information. Once they checked to make sure we didn’t have outstanding warrants for arrest, we were able to pay the fifty dollars fine and got released. I still have the marks on my wrist from the zip ties because they were so tight,” she said, showing her wrists. 

What does she think about her experience? “I’d do it again,” she said, “because I know what is at stake.” Swanson teared up. “I can see the faces of the kids who are going to die. Why? Because Elon Musk wants to save one percent of our foreign aid budget to give tax breaks to the rich? USAID is one of the best things we do and this is relatively low cost. Cutting the aid is evil. I can’t just sit by and let it happen without protesting.”