LOS ANGELES --

More than 100 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a printer supply manufacturer in the San Fernando Valley on Thursday, taking into custody about 120 employees on documentation-related charges and arresting eight on federal criminal charges, authorities said.

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The raid at the offices of Micro Solutions Enterprises began around 3:30 p.m., said Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman, who said the basis for the criminal warrant that led to the raid was under seal.

The eight people were arrested in connection with accusations they provided fraudulent information to get their jobs, Kice said.

"We've gathered a significant amount of physical evidence related to our ongoing investigation," she said.

At a news conference outside the downtown federal building Friday afternoon, American Civil Liberty Union lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham said the government had not yet allowed some of the detainees to talk to attorneys even though the ACLU has offered them free legal assistance.

"What is happening here is outrageous," he said.

At the news conference, also attended by labor, civil rights and religious figures, Maria Elana Durazo, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the raids should not have taken place.

Instead, she said, the nation's immigration laws need to be fixed.

"We should not have terror in our community," she said.

Noting that immigration has become a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign, she said that whether or not the government is playing politics with immigration, "men, women and children are impacted by the immigration problem."

Agents detained 130 suspected undocumented workers, including 87 from Mexico, 24 from El Salvador, eight from Guatemala, four from Peru, four from Honduras and three from Colombia.

Medical staff interviewed them to determine if they had any medical or other humanitarian issues, Kice said. The interviews will help the agency determine whether they will remain in detention or be released on humanitarian grounds while they await a deportation hearing.

Of the 130 detained, 65 men and 19 women will be transferred to the ICE contract detention facility in Lancaster, operated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Kice said.

Another 36 women and 10 men were processed and released on humanitarian grounds, Kice said. They have been scheduled for follow-up interviews concerning possible deportation, she said.

ICE has set up a 24-hour toll-free hotline for family members of those taken into custody to address questions about detention status and deportation. The number is (866) 341-3858. ICE agents handed out fliers about the hotline to the plant's workers and family members who came to the plant asking about their relatives.

The American Civil Liberties Union said it is offering free legal representation to anyone taken into custody.

"We're very concerned that people who were detained be given the opportunity to meet with a lawyer who can advise them of their rights," said ACLU lawyer Ahilan Arulanantham. "Some of them may be eligible for release on bond."

Arulanantham said ACLU attorneys who rushed to the scene of the raid were not allowed to talk to detainees.

Micro Solutions Enterprises, which manufactures and distributes toner cartridges, inkjets and other printer accessories, is family owned and operates facilities in California, Pennsylvania, Mexico and Canada, according to its Web site.