Fitchburg police were called to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents trying to detain a woman early Thursday morning.

ICE first called police at around 7:10 a.m. Thursday, seeking assistance during a traffic stop that turned into an attempted apprehension on Kimball Street, police said in a statement posted to Facebook. The department sent one patrol officer and one patrol supervisor to “determine the nature of the request.”

The department said its role in the situation was to “keep the peace,” which means making sure both the public and the agents are safe.

“The Fitchburg Police Department does not enforce federal immigration laws, nor do we interfere with the lawful actions of other law enforcement agencies,” the statement reads.

Police cleared the scene after determining the agents were not in danger.

But ICE again called for assistance at around 8:03 a.m., reporting that a crowd was gathering at the scene and the agents were in danger, according to the statement. The department sent three officers to the scene, who “confirmed that a crowd was gathering and that the situation was hostile.”

At that point, more units were sent to the scene. Police eventually closed part of Kimball Street.

The ICE agents “completed their apprehension” at 8:57 a.m., taking one woman into custody. The woman was in a vehicle with a small child and a man, who were both allowed to leave the scene, according to the statement.

At that point, police cleared the scene without having to take any enforcement action. Police referred questions about the detainment of the woman to ICE, which did not immediately respond to MassLive Thursday afternoon.

Crystal Devoe, 46, lives on Kimball Street and told MassLive that ICE agents were parked right in front of her house on Thursday morning.

She got a phone call at 7:30 a.m. about police officers outside her building, and she went downstairs to see what was happening.

Neighbors had gathered, and some were filming an ongoing situation with ICE.

There was a woman in a car, a 2-year-old in the back seat, and a man in the driver’s seat, according to Devoe. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I know that the ICE people were being nasty and mean,” Devoe said.

One person was speaking Spanish to the woman in the car, and one officer came out and said, “Do you want to repeat that in English now?” according to Devoe.

Cars began to line up and block traffic. Devoe said that one of her children saw the woman get pulled out of the car and get arrested.“

The guy kept saying there was a warrant out for [her], but he wouldn’t say what kind of warrant,” Devoe said.

“This isn’t a bad neighborhood. It’s not the greatest, I’ve only lived here a couple of months, but it’s scary knowing that if you’re not a citizen at any time, you can be pulled out of a car and arrested in front of your child,” Devoe said. “It was so sad. I had my daughter crying.”

Irene Rotondo contributed to this report.