A caravan of cars waved red T-shirts from their windows and streamed onto the New Jersey Turnpike at rush hour on Monday stopping traffic for about eight minutes to demand more aid for undocumented immigrants. 

It's the latest escalation of a more than year-long campaign by immigrant advocates who have pushed lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy to create a fund for undocumented workers who can't get unemployment benefits or federal stimulus checks. They say they the $40 million Murphy set aside from federal stimulus dollars to aid those locked out of other forms of COVID-19 relief isn't enough to help the nearly half a million undocumented immigrants in the state. Organizers want another $1 billion dollars in aid allocated in the state budget that Murphy needs to sign before June 30. 

"They just get very comfy of not being disturbed and no one creating a disruption like this," said Haydi Torres, 23, a member of Cosecha New Jersey, which helped organize the protest along with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "So they will have to pay attention to us whether they like it or not."

About two dozen cars gathered at a nearby gas station before stopping near Exit 13 northbound holding banners that read "what about us?" and "recovery for all is for all, not just for a few!" Video from the protest shows State Police troopers arriving a few minutes later and asking the group to clear the road. 

A State Police spokesman said no arrests were made and traffic was moving again minutes after they arrived on scene. 

Alyana Alfaro, a spokeswoman for Murphy, did not address Monday's protest but said the $40 million fund for immigrants will open for applications in early fall. 

But advocates who have staged multiple rallies and actions since the beginning of the pandemic, including a 24-day hunger strike say those dollars will only help a sliver of those who need it the most—workers who in many cases continued to work in essential jobs and fell ill with the coronavirus or had a family member get sick. Advocates on Monday said they've set up mutual aid efforts to help families pay rent and feed their children. 

"I received calls from a lot of people who lost their jobs and had to feed their kids," said Torres. "I've had to be consoling people because their family members died and there's no money to give them a proper burial."