A young woman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as she left a press conference where she had urged President Donald Trump to protect so-called 'Dreamers' like her who are in the process of renewing permission to remain in the United States legally.

Daniela Vargas, 22, who is originally from Argentina, was detained by ICE agents who pulled over a friend's car on a nearby freeway after she left a coalition of clergy and civil rights lawyers in Jackson, Mississippi.

Vargas was seven years old when her parents brought her from the city of Cordoba, Argentina.

Scroll down for video

Daniela Vargas (pictured) was one of several so-called Dreamers who spoke out at the press conference Wednesday. A few hours later she was under detention by ICE

She graduated from high school in 2013, attended community college and started at the University of Southern Mississippi, aspiring to be a math professor.

Miss Vargas, who is eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, said at the press conference: 'A path for citizenship is necessary for DACA recipients but also for the other 11 million undocumented people with dreams.'

She recalled watching ICE agents taking away her father and brother and said: 'I was scared for my life.'

DACA, which allows people who entered the country as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and eligibility for work, was launched by President Barack Obama in 2012 but Trump has suggested he will keep it.

Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, tweeted: 'Talking publicly about fears of deportation is not a crime and should not get someone detained.'

Another senator, Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said he was seeking more information on her case from the Department of Homeland Security.

Sen Durbin tweeted: 'Disturbing that ICE may have followed her from an immigration press conference.'

Vargas' DACA status expired in November and she applied to renew it last month after saving up for the $495 application fee.

Several Dreamers were invited to the joint session of Congress this week by Democrats as President Trump (pictured) made his first address. He has said he will retain DACA

Her attorney, Abigail Peterson, said she had been granted the two-year protection twice before, in December 2012 and in November 2014.

Ms Peterson said detaining someone with a pending DACA application was 'very unusual'.

'Why they would move forward the way they have is, honestly, mind-boggling,' she said.

ICE spokesman Thomas Byrd said Vargas was taken into custody in a 'targeted immigration enforcement action' after the agency verified her DACA status had lapsed.

He said: 'ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately.'

ICE said a federal immigration judge would now 'decide whether or not she is eligible for immigration relief'.

She's Mississippian by heart. She doesn't see a future for herself in Argentina Angela Stuesse

Vargas' lawyers expect she will be detained in Louisiana, where they will try to get her released on her own recognizance.

They said they did not know where her father Daniel, 55, and brother Alan, 26, were being held but believe they have not yet been deported. The family came to the US from Argentina.

Angela Stuesse, a family friend and anthropology professor at the University of North Carolina, said: 'She's Mississippian by heart. She doesn't see a future for herself in Argentina.'

An executive order President Trump issued in January compels federal immigration agents to step up enforcement, but Trump has said they would focus initially on criminal offenders.