Dozens of Iraqis living in Detroit were arrested by immigration officials over the weekend, local media reported, many of them Christians who feared persecution if returned to their home country.

Around 40 people had been arrested, many of them on Sunday, a Chaldean community leader told the Detroit Free Press. Protesters outside an immigration detention center told MLive.com as many as 80 people had been arrested in the sweep, including Iraqi Muslims and Mexicans.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman did not say how many people had been arrested over the weekend, but he confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had focused their attention on Iraqis. US and Iraq officials recently negotiated an agreement for Iraq to take back its nationals under orders for removal, ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls told BuzzFeed News.

"As part of ICE’s efforts to process the backlog of these individuals, the agency recently arrested a number of Iraqi nationals, all of whom had criminal convictions for crimes including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, drug trafficking, robbery, sex assault, weapons violations and other offenses," he said.