Chicago may be a sanctuary city, but the special status didn’t stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from removing 13 dozen illegal immigrants from the metropolitan area over a six-day campaign before Memorial Day.

ICE agents descended on 37 communities in the area to arrest 156 illegal immigrants, nearly half of them criminals with prior convictions. Those arrested included gun-toting thugs, violent gang members, sex traffickers, car thieves, drug dealers, wife beaters, drunken drivers, drug mules, drug abusers, and rapists, ICE reports.

“Fourteen of those arrested were immigration fugitives who have final orders of removal. Thirty-six others illegally re-entered the United States after having been previously deported, which is a felony,” according to a recent ICE news release. “The remaining 106 arrests were at-large aliens who are illegally present in the United States.”

ICE officials gave several examples of the type of bad hombres they’re removing from the streets.

There was “a 42-year-old illegal alien from Mexico and a self-admitted Sureno 13 gang member” who was arrested near his Chicago home.

The man “was twice convicted of willful infliction of corporal injury,” according to ICE.

“He was removed by an immigration judge, and ICE officers later deported him,” the ICE release reads. “He later illegally re-entered the United States, and was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for unlawfully possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver.”

Another 44-year-old Mexican national who was convicted of battery and sentenced to probation was arrested by ICE outside of McHenry County Jail. Another 28-year-old from Mexico with a record of drug possession was arrested during a traffic stop in Palatine, Illinois.

ICE contends the public arrests – necessitated by sanctuary city policies – are more dangerous for agents, illegal immigrants and the communities they live in.

In years past, most of these individuals would have been turned over to ICE by local authorities upon their release from jail based on ICE detainers. Now that many sanctuary cities, including Chicago, do not honor ICE detainers, these individuals, who often have significant criminal histories, are released to the street, which presents a significant and growing public-safety threat,” according to the ICE release.

ICE places detainers on individuals who have been arrested on local criminal charges and who are suspected of being deportable, so that ICE can take custody of that person when the person is released from local custody. When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminals into the streets, it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety and carry out its mission.

ICE has no choice but to continue to conduct targeted at-large arrests in local neighborhoods and at worksites, which inevitably result in additional collateral arrests. Such operations are much more dangerous for ICE officers, for the targeted aliens, and for bystanders.

News of the arrests followed cries from the media, Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and others who allege Trump recently referred to illegal immigrants as “animals” during a roundtable discussion on immigration in California.

Several news outlets were forced to clarify that Trump referred specifically to MS-13 gang members – many of them illegal immigrants with violent backgrounds – as the types of “animals” he wants to remove from the country.

Pelosi even questioned whether Trump believes in the “spark of divinity” inherent in all people, seemingly defending members of a gang known for the mantra “kill, rape, control,” The American Mirror reports.

Regardless, a new poll conducted by Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll found 56 percent of Americans believe Trump’s description of MS-13 gang members as “animals” is a perfect fit, Townhall reports.