ICE arresting Iraqi nationals in Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville

Federal immigration authorities have rounded up 199 Iraqi nationals across the country — including in Atlanta, Detroit and Nashville — in recent weeks, prompting fears they will be deported to their Middle Eastern homeland amid deadly sectarian violence and fierce fighting to dislodge the Islamic State.

Three Kurdish men who came from Iraq as asylees were arrested this month in Atlanta. And 114 Iraqi natives were detained in the Detroit area last weekend. Many of them are Christians, The Detroit Free Press reported. Iraqi Kurds and Christians — who have long faced persecution — are strong U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State.

This is the second such enforcement operation targeting people from a Muslim-majority country in the span of three months. In April, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested many Somalis in parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, including in Clarkston, a haven for immigrants and refugees.