AUSTIN (TIP):  Fifteen people were arrested in Austin on Wednesday, July 26 during a protest Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s threat to sue the federal government over a program that shields from deportation unauthorized immigrants who came to the country as children.

They were all charged with obstructing a highway or other passageway — a Class B misdemeanor — and taken to the Travis County Jail.

Victor Taylor, a DPS spokesman, said in a news release that the protesters were arrested without incident after ignoring requests to leave the roadway they were blocking.

The group of about 40 protesters, organized by a national immigrant rights group called Cosecha, decried Paxton’s June letter to President Donald Trump‘s administration asking it to rescind the Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals program — commonly known as DACA — or face a lawsuit over its legality.

The 15 people arrested during the protest sat in the middle of an intersection directly to the north of the Texas Capitol and blocked traffic for about 15 minutes. They chanted and laid out posters that read “Permanent protection. Dignity and Respect.”

Four of the arrested protesters were DACA recipients. The program gives immigrants who came to the country illegally as children a two-year relief from deportation and a work permit. Around 800,000 people have benefited from the program since its implementation in 2012. Strict immigration enforcement advocates have decried it as a mini “amnesty” and urged Trump to rescind it.

Trump promised to do away with the program during the campaign trail but has waffled on the issue since.

Under the heightened immigration enforcement of the Trump administration, the four recipients of the program could face a revocation of its benefits for the arrest.

“We know there’s a lot of fear and anxiety in our communities. However, we know that we cannot put our faith and hopes in politicians,” said Reyna Montoya, one of the organizers of the protest. “We have seen that victories have [only] been won when communities have put everything at risk.”

Responding to the protest, Paxton wrote in a prepared statement: “We’re fortunate to live in a great country where the First Amendment matters and people have the right to express their opinions freely and hold peaceful protests. It’s my sworn duty to defend the Constitution and enforce the laws passed by the Texas Legislature.”

Cosecha is an immigrant rights groups with operations in 20 states. Protesters on Wednesday included people who lived in El Paso and Austin, but also came from as far as Arizona, California, Florida and New York.

“We want to send a message to the American public that we are tired of how we are treated in this country,” said Jose Luis Santiago, a 21-year-old recipient of the deportation relief program, who immigrated from Mexico as a child.

Protesters also railed against Texas’ recently passed “sanctuary cities” ban.

“We’re here in Austin because of all the pain that politicians in this city are giving our immigrant community,” said Maria Fernanda Cabello, one of the protest organizers. “We have SB 4 that’s going to come into effect Sept. 1 that’s going to affect all immigrants in the state, not because of your legal status, but because of the color of your skin.”

Supporters of the sanctuary cities ban say the law is necessary to ensure local jurisdictions are cooperating with immigration authorities. The law, proponents say, will help ensure that immigrants who have broken the law are turned over to federal authorities and will prevent them from committing more serious crimes.

The protesters were transferred to Travis County Jail, where officials turn over unauthorized immigrants to federal immigration authorities only if they have been charged with violent crimes, such as murder, aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. The Travis County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the jail, was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s main targets during his campaign to pass the sanctuary cities ban.

The protest was mostly peaceful, but state troopers did have to forcibly move some people while redirecting traffic. A state trooper dragged a man across the asphalt for a few feet after he refused to allow a car to pass.

In the early afternoon, organizers said the 15 protesters had not yet been released. They said the 11 people who were citizens or legal permanent residents would remain behind bars until the four other arrested protesters, who are DACA recipients, were released.