Story highlights Congressional Democrats are fuming at the White House after federal law enforcement launched raids deporting families back to unstable Central American countries over the Christmas holiday

Washington (CNN) Leading Democrats on Capitol Hill are fuming at the White House after federal law enforcement launched raids deporting families back to unstable Central American countries over the Christmas holidays, and are demanding a face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama.

Top administration officials -- Cecilia Munoz, the director of the Domestic Policy Council and Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas -- met with members of the Hispanic Caucus, along with top House Democratic leaders on Thursday. Many lawmakers vented about the decision to round up families who were gathered to celebrate on Christmas Eve and blasted the administration's enforcement approach as uneven, and complained no one reached out to them. They said members of their communities are traumatized and scared, and in some cities, there are protests growing about what advocacy groups view as heavy handed federal law enforcement tactics.

"This is not an immigration issue, it's a refugee issue. Deporting these refugees essentially means that we are sending them back to their home countries to face possible death," Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, the chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus said at a press conference Friday about operations by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

One after another, Hispanic Caucus members called on the President and the administration to cease ICE raids and offer temporary protected status to affected families from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois ripped what he said was a double standard of federal law enforcement agencies involved in a stand-off over federal land issues in one part of the country, versus those involved in carrying out deportation raids.

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