ICE protesters march in DC after controversial arrests

WASHINGTON - Demonstrators marched through the District to protest the controversial arrests made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week.

The protesters marched from ICE headquarters to Mayor Muriel Bowser's office after federal officials took 14 people into custody in D.C. during raids believed to be targeting so-called sanctuary cities. Raids were carried out in places such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Baltimore and the District.

ICE said the 14 people arrested in Washington, D.C. included three immigration fugitives, two re-entries and nine at-large undocumented immigrants. Officials said five of the 14 had criminal convictions.

Protesters told FOX 5 they believe Bowser and the city weren't doing enough to protect undocumented immigrants. They said Bowser's comments made about the raids during a press conference Wednesday morning didn't go far enough.

"I asked the chief if we had been alerted by ICE or were aware of any unusual raid activity and we are not," Bowser said. "So what we want to make clear to everyone is we have trained all of our people about how to respond. For example, if ICE shows up at one of our buildings, school building, a shelter, or hospital to make sure that everybody knows how to respond. But we haven't been notified about any specific action by ICE."

D.C. Councilmember David Grosso offered to help the undocumented immigrants arrested in the District and urged the arrestees or anyone who knows them to call his office at (202) 724-8105.