Around 100 people were arrested during an anti-ICE protest in Manhattan which closed down part of the West Side Highway and caused traffic gridlock.
Demonstrators marched on the streets in Chelsea calling on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bring a halt to their raids on undocumented migrants.
Many protesters sat on the street as they linked one another and held placards reading ‘Abolish ICE’ and ‘Close the camps.’
Footage also showed a heavy NYPD presence as an automated voice advised protesters to move to the sidewalks.
Around 100 people were arrested during an anti-ICE protest in Manhattan which closed down part of the West Side Highway and caused traffic gridlock
Demonstrators marched on the streets, (pictured), calling on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to bring a halt to their raids on undocumented migrants
‘You are unlawfully in the roadway and obstructing vehicular traffic. You are ordered to leave the roadway,’ an NYPD command speaker is heard saying in the video.
NYPD officials told PIX11 that 100 people were arrested and are expected to be charged with disorderly conduct.
Motorists were advised that there were road closures and a heavy presence of emergency responders along 12th Avenue and West 22nd Street in Manhattan.
The closure at the West Side Highway and West 26th Street reopened later on Saturday afternoon.
Protests have been taking place in different parts of the country, demanding an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeting thousands of migrants and separating them from their families.
Protesters unfurled a banner saying the Spanish slang for’F*** ICE’ at Donald Trump’s rally in Cincinnati earlier this month.
Two people were removed by security but their protest was claimed as a victory by an anti-deportation group.
The banner read ‘chinga la migra.’ La Migra is a slang shortening of ICE’s full name – Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and can also mean immigration authorities more generally, including Customs and Border Patrol.
Police are seen arresting protesters that were blocking the intersection of West 26 Street and 12th Avenue on Saturday
NYPD officials told PIX11 that 100 people were arrested on Saturday and are expected to be charged with disorderly conduct
Last month U.S. authorities launched small-scale operations seeking to arrest undocumented immigrants in an apparent start to Donald Trump’s vow to launch mass deportation round-ups
ICE is largely the body which removes illegal immigrants during deportations, while CBP carry out arrests at the border.
Last month, protesters went to a migrant detention center in Colorado and took down the state’s flag and the U.S. flag before hoisting up a Mexican flag and a defaced Blue Lives Matter flag in their place.
Nick Metz described in a tweet that the majority of the protesters at the Aurora ICE Processing Center were ‘peaceful’, even thanking those who ‘took the time to thank my cops.’
Officers would later take down the flags and were seen hoisting the American one back up.
The protest was part of the #LightsForLiberty events that took place across the country, and was called the ‘March to Close Concentration Camps’ on Facebook.
Last month U.S. authorities launched small-scale operations seeking to arrest undocumented immigrants in an apparent start to President Donald Trump’s vow to launch mass deportation round-ups across the United States.
Many protesters sat on the street and linked hands demanding that ICE be abolished
Protesters are seen being lined up and put into police vehicles following Saturday’s protest
Motorists were advised that there were road closures and a heavy presence of emergency responders along 12th Avenue and West 22nd Street in Manhattan
The operation was expected to target hundreds of recently arrived families in about 10 cities who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge.
The removal operations are meant to deter a surge in Central American families fleeing poverty and gang violence in their home countries, with many seeking asylum in the United States.
‘We are doing targeted enforcement actions against specific individuals who have had their day in immigration court and have been ordered removed by an immigration judge,’ Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matt Albence told Fox News when asked for an update.
Immigration rights activists have said that in many cases immigrants do not receive proper notice of their court dates.
The operations came as the Trump administration faces criticism for housing immigrants in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions, and there are concerns about migrant children being separated from adults by U.S. authorities.
“While we haven´t heard of widespread sweeps, none of our communities should have to live in fear that parents won’t come home from work, or kids won’t return from school,” said Lauren Weiner, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued this week to stop the arrests going ahead.