Protests Erupt Over Arrests of 100+ Illegals. Feds: They’re SEX OFFENDERS, DRUG DEALERS, GANG MEMBERS…

Protests erupted in Southern California Thursday night after immigration authorities reportedly rounded up more than 100 illegal immigrants across three counties. Outraged protesters converged on the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, many blaming the new Trump administration for what they portrayed as unfair and unorthodox “raids” on illegals inspired by the new regime’s hardline immigration stance.

“No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” they chanted during their demonstrations, which ended up closing down Aliso Street for about two hours.

But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say that the protesters have their facts wrong. The roundup, authorities explained, are simply “routine” arrests that have nothing to do with President Trump’s policies, but rather are simply the faithful enforcement of existing federal policies.

And rather than innocent immigrants being pulled from their homes, as the protesters are claiming, ICE specified that those arrested Thursday were all criminal illegal aliens, including child sex offenders, drug traffickers and gang members. KTLA 5 reports:

ICE officials have yet to release detailed information on how many people the agency arrested Thursday and where they were taken into custody, only stating that the activities were “targeted and lead driven, prioritizing individuals who pose a risk to our communities,” according to ICE spokesperson Lori Haley.

“Examples would include known street gang members, child sex offenders, and deportable foreign nationals with significant drug trafficking convictions,” she said in an email. “To that end, ICE’s routine immigration enforcement actions are ongoing.”

The pro-(illegal) immigration advocates, however, maintain that those who were rounded up in the raids Thursday did not have criminal backgrounds, or else were just undocumented family members of the criminal illegals. The arrests, which immigration advocates say numbered over 100, reportedly took place in homes “in Santa Paula, Oxnard, Van Nuys, Downey and San Bernardino.”

“For us, it is not an ordinary day,” said CHIRLA Director of Policy Joseph Villa, reports KTLA 5. “We have hundreds of calls to our offices as well from attorneys indicating that their clients have been picked up. ICE is not releasing their names. ICE is not allowing them to see their attorney.”

Villa added that the raids are evidence that Trump plans to deport all 11 million illegal immigrants currently living in the country. “It means that now what President Trump said — that he wants to deport 11 million — it is true,” he said. “He wants to deport immigrant families, he wants to deport people with no convictions at all.”

Democratic U.S. Representative Tony Cárdenas decried the arrest of the criminal illegal immigrants as “outrageous,” writing a letter demanding more info and blaming the raid on the Trump administration rather than federal law and the actions of the felons living illegally in the country. “This is just one more action by this administration that hurts our communities and our economy,” he wrote.

More from the Daily Wire on illegal immigration:

How Long Will It Take To Build The Trump Wall?

How Many US Immigrants Are Illegal? The Numbers Will Stun You.