The Black woman who scaled the Statue of Liberty climber says Michelle Obama's "when they go low, we go high" speech inspired her to do what she did.

Therese Patricia Okoumou, the Black woman who scaled the Statue of Liberty, has said she was inspired to do what she did by Michelle Obama's speech.

"When they go low, we go high," Michelle Obama famously proclaimed at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. This is what Therese said inspired her to take the risk and climb high onto the Statue of Liberty.

She said on Thursday outside the Manhattan courthouse where she had been arraigned: 

Michelle Obama — our beloved first lady that I care so much about — said, 'When they go low, we go high,' and I went as high as I could.

She was arrested on the Fourth of July after climbing the base of the Statue of Liberty to protest migrant family separation at the border with the group Rise and Resist.

She continued:

Trump has wrecked this country apart.

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.

She added:

In a democracy, we do not put children in cages. Period. There is no debating it. Nothing you can say to me will justify putting children in cages.