People hold up signs protesting against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in New York City on August 10, 2019. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Police Arrest 100 Anti-ICE Protesters Blocking West Side Highway in New York City

About 100 protestors blocking parts of the West Side Highway in New York City and chanting anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) slogans were arrested on Aug. 10, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

The protests took place in Manhattan near the Chelsea district, with protestors sitting on the road and impeding traffic, reported Pix11.

NYPD officials told a Pix11 reporter that 100 protestors were arrested and are expected to be charged with disorderly conduct.

The protestors are demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stop “terrorizing immigrant communities and to all detention and separation of families at the border.”

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

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

Videos posted on Twitter show demonstrators holding anti-ICE posters that say “Abolish ICE now” and pro-illegal immigration posters that say “No Human is Illegal … Close the camps … Free Them.”

Notify NYC advised motorists to take alternative routes in a statement on Twitter.

“Due to police activity, expect road closures and a heavy presence of emergency personnel at 12th Avenue and West 22nd Street in Manhattan. The closure at West Side Highway and West 26th Street has reopened. Consider alt routes,” Notify NYC, New York City’s official emergency notification system, wrote on Twitter.

Due to police activity, expect road closures and a heavy presence of emergency personnel at 12th Avenue and West 22nd Street in Manhattan. The closure at West Side Highway and West 26th Street has reopened. Consider alt routes. https://t.co/7keJh6yOVM — NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) August 10, 2019

ABC7 reported that a vehicle blockade at the West Side Highway and West 26th Street has since been cleared.

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

ICE Arrests 934 Illegal Immigrants with Criminal Charges or Convictions

ICE arrests 140 criminal aliens and immigration violators in 5-day enforcement surge in 6 Midwestern states https://t.co/gP2mm70HNk Way to go ICE! — Pam (@Pam93592944) June 11, 2019

Last month, ICE apprehended 934 illegal immigrants who had final removal orders but were still in the country. The agency also delivered notices of inspection to businesses, informing them that they would check hiring records across all 50 states.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a comprehensive interior enforcement initiative—targeting charged or convicted criminals (operation cross-check), those on the accelerated docket with final removal orders ordered by a judge in absentia, and worksite violators,” an ICE spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

During Operation Cross Check, 899 illegal immigrants were apprehended by ICE agents between May 13 and July 11.

Among the 899 apprehended, 605 have criminal convictions and 93 have pending criminal charges.

The spokesperson said ICE periodically conducts targeted fugitive operations, such as Operation Cross Check, nationally and locally across its 24 field offices.

“These … target public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, and individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who re-entered the country after being deported and immigration fugitives, ordered deported by federal immigration judges,” said the spokesperson.

So far, ICE has arrested 35 illegal immigrants as part of Operation Border Resolve, which began several weeks ago and will continue in perpetuity.

Operation Border Resolve targets “individuals who entered the country as unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and family units,” according to an earlier release by the ICE.