While most of the nation’s citizens turned their attention on Saturday to the suicide (or murder?) of Jeffrey Epstein, hundreds of far-left activists were arrested for blocking portions of the West Side Highway in Manhattan in a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“An anti-ICE demonstration shut down part of the West Side Highway in Manhattan on Saturday. … Hundreds protested in the street, shutting down the busy roadway in both directions at 26th Street for a short time Saturday afternoon,” local station WCBS reported.

“We are protesting the camps at the border and the children being separated from their parents,” one protester said to the station prior to the arrests.

“I’m absolutely infuriated by children being broken up and split award from their families as our government detains people, um rounded up all these immigrants last week,” another added.

Listen below:

Source: WCBS

It’s unclear what the activists expect of the federal government. Were illegal aliens not detained — a process that does sometimes require separating illegal alien children from their illegal alien parents — America would effectively become an open borders nation.

And since an estimated 42 million adults who currently inhabit Latin American and the Caribbean have expressed interest in relocating to the U.S., the country’s neighborhoods — including those inhabited by these activists — would be flooded with migrants.

The activists were reportedly prompted to action on Saturday by the legally justified apprehension last week of over 600 illegal aliens at various poultry processing plants in Mississippi. The activists likewise reportedly chose the spot for their protests because ICE boasts offices nearby.

Thanks to their protests, all lanes of the West Side Highway were closed along West 26th Street until 2:15 pm. This caused heavy, wall-to-wall traffic:

Due to protest, all lanes of the West Side Highway are closed at West 26th Street in both directions in Manhattan. Consider alt routes. Multilingual & ASL link: https://t.co/KVVnlbeL5T. — NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) August 10, 2019

West Side Highway wall-to-wall because of ICE protests… @NYPDnews needs to be doing some more diverting of traffic in the 30s and 40s https://t.co/0Cz0ZIiNsH pic.twitter.com/OmzGOHmB1L — Henry Rosoff (@HenryRosoff) August 10, 2019

Video footage from the protests shows the activists holding signs that read “Abolish ICE” and “Close the Camps.” This radical rhetoric echoes that of some congressional Democrats, who, instead of trying to resolve the border crisis, have pushed extreme proposals that would only exacerbate the crisis along the border by incentivizing more illegal immigration.

Watch:

Happening NOW!!! @CosechaMovemen and allies blocking the west side highway. Demanding an end to ICE’s terrorizing of immigrant communities and to all detention and separation of families at the border.#ShutDownICE #DignityNotDetention pic.twitter.com/CK8YQUGxr1 — Gili Getz ? (@giligetz) August 10, 2019

Breaking !!! Arrests begin as activists blocking the west side highway. Demanding an end to ICE’s terrorizing of immigrant communities and to all detention and separation of families at the border.#ShutDownICE #DignityNotDetention pic.twitter.com/dnqUogBtGw — Gili Getz ? (@giligetz) August 10, 2019

The heart of the ICE protest on the West Side Highway. We see you.#ShutDownICE #DignityNotDetention #ConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/6iWrOwtuLJ — kae òωó ✨? (@dobiecakes) August 10, 2019

Also, just to be clear, the federal government doesn’t operate “concentration camps.” It operates illegal alien detention facilities — all of which provide clean water and food, not to mention diapers, baby wipes, children’s clothing, blankets, toothbrushes, etc.

Again, it’s unclear what exactly the activists expect of the government.

What’s known is that for their disruptive, unwanted efforts, 100 of these activists were eventually apprehended on charges of disorderly conduct.

And given that the protests took place in Manhattan, it’s likely that these activists spent the remainder of their day at the Manhattan Detention Complex — which, ironically enough, sits only blocks away from the federal facility where Epstein died on Saturday.

According to attorneys in NYC, disorderly conduct is punishable by a fine of up to $250, a jail sentence of up to 15 days and a probation sentence of roughly one year.

“For the prosecutor to be successful at trial, they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged conduct happened in a public place, and that the conduct caused public annoyance,” the law firm Newman & Cyr notes.

These protests definitely occurred in a public place — and they definitely caused great public annoyance and consternation.

Nevertheless, the activists told WCBS that it was all worth it — despite the fact that it appears they accomplished absolutely nothing, unless of course they count irritating their fellow New Yorkers as some sort of achievement.