ICE releases some immigrants arrested in Mississippi
About 300 of the 680 immigrant workers arrested by federal authorities at seven poultry processing plants in Mississippi were released on Thursday as church groups, schools and other volunteers prepared to take care of children whose parents remained in custody following the raids.
About 30 workers were released at the plants east of Jackson, the state capital, and about 270 were released from a nearby military base where they were taken to be processed. No court dates were immediately set to determine if those held or released will be deported.
The raids, conducted on Wednesday by about 600 officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, in conjunction with the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of Mississippi, were the largest since April, when agents arrested more than 280 people, suspected of being in the United States illegally, in Texas in what then was called the largest worksite roundup in 10 years.
A spokeswoman for Koch Foods, which operates three plants in the region, told China Daily the company had no comment on the raids.
Joanna King, spokeswoman for the Catholic diocese of Jackson, said attorneys from around the nation have volunteered to represent those arrested.
“Concerns about food and clothing are being taken care of at the parish level,” she told China Daily. “Our next concern is the financial needs of the families. Many have paid rent but now have no income.”
Chad Harrison, assistant superintendent at the Scott County School District, located about 75 kilometers east of Jackson and near several food-processing plants, said teachers told students about the raids and tried to comfort those whose parents were detained.
He said the school district has 4,024 students, including 576 Hispanics, or about 14.31 percent of the total enrollment. Most Hispanic students are young and enrolled in elementary or middle schools. On Thursday, 153 Hispanic students were absent, but Harrison said the school district didn’t know if their parents had been swept up in the raids.
“We’re trying to make it a routine day,” Harrison told China Daily. “We have translators at the schools, and the federal agencies have been very helpful and will help with reunions. No students stayed at school overnight — they were
released to relatives or friends.”
Elected officials, advocacy groups and lawyers condemned the raids of the poultry processing plants. The industry relies on immigrant labor to work in cold conditions to cut, clean, debone and pack chicken.
“The ICE raids are both dehumanizing and ineffective as a tactic for protecting citizens from potential harm,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said in a statement. “These raids will only further alienate communities from law enforcement, disrupt community policing efforts and cause law enforcement to forfeit credibility and trust among the people they are sworn to protect.”