TROY — About 200 people blocked off the intersection in front of the Rensselaer County Jail Sunday to protest the sheriff's policy to hand over inmates who have an immigration hold to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

For roughly two hours, activists chanted, sang and demonstrated in front of the sheriff's office in Troy. Some waved signs: "Never Again is Now," "No Kids in Cages," "Abolish ICE." Nearly 30 people, all prepared to be arrested, linked arms to form a human barricade in front of the jail.

Participants demanded the end of Rensselaer County Sheriff Patrick Russo's policy to check inmates for immigration holds and turn them in to ICE agents. He runs the only New York facility that has opted into the federal program.

Olivia McKee, 25, of Troy, helped put together the event as part of the "Never Again" movement, a national campaign of Jewish organizers with the goal of supporting the elimination of ICE and speaking out against the treatment of immigrants at the U.S. border.

"That border travels," McKee said. "The border is anywhere an ICE detention center is built. The border is anywhere that police are collaborating with ICE officials. It happens right here in our city."

McKee helped lead protesters as they marched from Taras Shevchenko Park to the county jail. She shared a poem with attendees, most of whom hailed from the Capital Region. Some traveled from states as far as Virginia to demonstrate, she said.

The protest was peaceful and there were no arrests. Officers stood by to watch the demonstration but did not interact with attendees, protesters said.

"The cops eventually left, so we left as well and considered it a victory that we have blocked off their business as usual for a few hours," McKee said.

Russo was not present at the sheriff's office during the protest but received updates from officers on scene, he said when reached for comment Sunday evening. He defended the county policy, saying that releasing potentially dangerous detainees with immigration holds would be a "disservice to the people of Rensselaer County."

"People are going to protest," he said. "They have their right to protest, but I also swore to keep the people of this county safe, and that's what I'm going to do."

Russo had also instructed his officers not to make "foolish arrests" during the demonstration – a move that some protesters, including 62-year-old Tracy Frisch, said would likely "decrease public attention on the issue."

Frisch traveled from Argyle to attend the march, which she said was also an opportunity for her to connect with friends who are also active members in both the Jewish community and liberal advocacy work.

"It's empowering to be with other people who have the same concerns, who have the same feelings of conscience," she said.

Albany native Miriam Axel-Lute, who helped organize the demonstration after attending a Never Again event in Washington, D.C. this summer, said the turnout was a "powerful" show of numbers at the "site of the strongest collaborator with ICE in this whole region."

"It felt really powerful to bring people there, to this out-of-the-way corner and say, 'No, we're watching,'" Axel-Lute, 44, said. "We're here. We know what you're doing. It's not right, and people in your city and your county don't approve."