Several are arrested at Phoenix immigration facility after protesters try to stop van deporting mother-of-two who has checked in twice a year and was told today she is being sent back to Mexico

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Police have made several arrests as protesters blocked vans from leaving a U.S. immigration office in Phoenix late Wednesday, fearing that a mother of two on board was possibly headed for deportation.

The protest surged at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was taken into custody during a routine check-in with the agency.

Fearing her deportation, dozens of immigration activists blocked the gates surrounding the office near central Phoenix in an apparent effort to stop several vans and a bus from leaving.

Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos is locked in a van that is stopped in the street by protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility late on Wednesday in Phoenix

Garcia de Rayos produced a video before her arrest expressing her fear of deportation

She appeared on the screen with her husband and two children who are all US-born citizens

Garcia de Rayos apparently was in one of the vehicles, which are used to transport people in ICE custody to detention centers, or to Arizona's border with Mexico for deportation.

Police officers amassed at the facility as protesters continued to block access, chanting 'Justice!' and 'Power to the people, no one is illegal!'

Police posted on Twitter that they arrested about seven protesters, but they added that most of the protesters were peaceful.

'Besides the few people engaged in criminal acts, most people out here are peaceful and exercising their rights properly,' police said. 'Everyone remains safe so far. Hoping for continued cooperation and no more criminal conduct.'

Protesters took to Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters Wednesday to block the deportation of a Mesa mom who was ordered deported during an immigration check-in

Activists blocked the gates surrounding the office near central Phoenix in an effort to blcok several vans and a bus. Police moved in and arrested several people

A protester locked himself to the van carrying Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos that is stopped by protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility

The activists said it was an attempt by President Donald Trump's administration to deport undocumented immigrants who had previously not been a priority for deportation under the Obama administration.

Her arrest came just days after the Trump administration broadened regulations under which some people will be deported.

'We're living in a new era now, an era of war on immigrants,' Ms. Rayos's lawyer, Ray A. Ybarra Maldonado, said after leaving the building that houses the federal immigration agency.

The protests carried on late into the night and included several people who bound themselves to one of the vans while others sat in front of a closed gate, blocking anyone from leaving. 

Police posted on Twitter that they arrested about seven protesters, but added that the demonstration was mainly peaceful.

'Besides the few people engaged in criminal acts, most people out here are peaceful and exercising their rights properly,' police said. 'Everyone remains safe so far. Hoping for continued cooperation and no more criminal conduct.'

By 1 am Thursday, less than two dozen protesters stood in the dark outside the building talking quietly, with just a handful of police looking on.

The protesters said they initially succeeded in stopping the vehicles from leaving, but said they later left the grounds by another exit. They didn't know if Garcia de Rayos had still been aboard. 

Users on social media have had conflicting opinions on whether the round-up was justified

Puente Arizona, an immigrant advocacy group, said García de Rayos came to the U.S. as a 14-year-old and now has two children. She was arrested on Wednesday while reporting to ICE, which she has done every six months since she was arrested nine years ago. 

According to KTAR, Garcia de Rayos was arrested in 2008 during a workplace raid and was later convicted of felony identity theft for possessing false papers.

Despite her conviction, she was allowed to live in Arizona and checked in with ICE officials every six months.

In a tearful video interview uploaded before her detention, Garcia de Rayos and her family spoke of the trauma they face by the threat facing them. 

MailOnline has contacted ICE for a comment. 

y. She lives in Mesa with her husband and two teenage children, a daughter, Jacqueline, and a son, Angel.