U.S. immigration officials raided seven Mississippi chicken processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, the
1 / 22Immigration Food Plant RaidsA federal agent searches the trunk of an auto leaving the employee parking lot at Koch Foods Inc., in Morton, Miss., Wednesday morning, Aug. 7, 2019. U.S. immigration officials raided several Mississippi food processing plants on Wednesday and signaled that the early-morning strikes were part of a large-scale operation targeting owners as well as employees. MORTON, Miss. — U.S.
In Morton, about 40 miles east of the capital of Jackson, workers filled three buses — two for men and one for women — at a Koch Foods Inc. plant. Workers, including Domingo Candelaria, who could show they were in the country legally were allowed to leave the plant after agents searched the trunks of their vehicles.Mississippi is the nation's fifth-largest chicken producing state and the plants' tough processing jobs have mainly been filled by Latino immigrants eager to take whatever work they can get. Chicken plants dominate the economies of Morton and other small towns east of Jackson.
The companies involved could be charged with knowingly hiring workers who are in the county illegally and will be scrutinized for tax, document and wage fraud, Albence said. Major immigration raids were common under President George W. Bush, including one at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, in 2008 that resulted in about 400 arrests. President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits.
"This will affect the economy," Maria Isabel Ayala, a child care worker for plant employees, said as the buses left."Without them here, how will you get your chicken?"
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ICE raids sweep up 680 undocumented immigrants across MississippiThe raids hit seven food processing plants in six cities. They're believed to be the biggest single-state, one-day ICE operation in U.S. history.
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