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Protesters Arrested Outside New Jersey Immigration Detention Center

ELIZABETH, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A small group of demonstrators has been arrested while protesting outside of an immigration detention center in New Jersey.

Five activists blocking a street with a sign reading "No More Deportations'' and wearing butterfly wings were arrested on Thursday outside of the Elizabeth Detention Center.

More than 100 protesters lined the street outside of the detention center, where 300 detainees are being held inside. They chanted against recent raids by federal immigration authorities and against President Donald Trump's proposed wall on the Mexican border.

"There are so many families that are being disrupted by a Trump administration whose agenda is simply to exclude people who don't look, think or are not as wealthy as they are," said Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who sponsored a bill that would make New Jersey a sanctuary state. "We are the place where people go when they are unable to exist in their own place, we need to keep the door of liberty open."

"My neighbors are fearful, they haven't committed any crimes, they're law abiding citizens, they work, they raise a family," said State Sen. Ray Lesniak.

Undocumented immigrant and college student Jonathan Jimenez said he lives in fear every day.

"Everybody here tries to make a living, tries to work hard and tries to make ends meet at the end of the day," Jimenez said. "We're very hard working people and we come here for a better opportunity."

"It seems to me absurd to throw people out who just want to make the country better," said protester Claire Ciliotta, of Montclair.

Police didn't immediately have information available on what charges the arrested protesters could face. They were taken away with their hands in zip ties and placed into the back of a police van.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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