PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- Hundreds of local immigrants packed a Painesville church Saturday night, not to worship but to hide, NewsChannel5's Curtis Jackson reported.

They were worried about an immigration raid that swept through Lake County earlier in the day.

As word of the immigration raid began to spread, dozens of Latinos packed the basement of St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Video: Immigrants Take Refuge In Church | Special Section

The parish said they came for prayer. The activists said they came to protest, but most simply came out of fear, Jackson reported.

Though no one knows for sure, Jackson said, it's estimated that immigration authorities arrested around 20 undocumented members of the Painesville Latino community.

"They took fathers and members of dozens of families," said Veronica Dahlberg with Hispanas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula.

The church stopped short of calling this sanctuary. But Father Steve Vellenga said he will not turn away any good Catholic in need of help.

Most of the people who gathered at the church returned to their homes or found other places to stay. But the location of the people arrested is not known, Jackson reported.

Painesville police said those arrested were not being held at local jails or in Cleveland. Immigration and customs enforcement has not returned calls for comment on the whereabouts of the immigrants in custody.