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Nearly 700 people DETAINED in Mississippi ICE raids

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Nearly 700 people DETAINED in Mississippi ICE raids

U.S. immigration officials have raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants and arrested 680 mostly Latino workers in what marks the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. 

The raids, which took place on Wednesday, happened in small towns near Jackson with a workforce made up largely of Latino immigrants. 

The towns hit include Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie and Sebastapol. 

About 600 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded the perimeters of a Koch Foods Inc. plant in Morton to prevent workers from fleeing during the raids. 

U.S. immigration officials have made 680 arrests after raiding several Mississippi food processing plants as part of a large-scale operation carried out by the Trump administration

The raids, which took place on Wednesday, happened in small towns near Jackson with a workforce made up largely of Latino immigrants

Workers rounded up in that raid filled three buses – two for men and one for women – before they were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations.

About 70 family, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted: ‘Let them go! Let them go!’ 

Later, two more buses arrived. 

A tearful 13-year-old boy whose parents are from Guatemala waved goodbye to his mother, a Koch worker, as he stood beside his father. 

Some employees tried to flee on foot but were captured in the parking lot. 

Workers who were confirmed to have legal status were allowed to leave the plant after having their trunks searched.

‘It was a sad situation inside,’ said Domingo Candelaria, a legal resident and Koch worker who said authorities checked employees’ identification documents. 

Workers rounded up in a raid on the Koch Foods Inc. plant in Morton filled three buses – two for men and one for women – before they were taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations

Handcuffed workers await transportation to a processing center following a raid by U.S. immigration officials at Koch Foods Inc., plant in Morton

Workers who were confirmed to have legal status were allowed to leave the plant after having their trunks searched

Bryan Cox, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said search warrants were executed at seven locations across Mississippi, targeting several companies. 

A hangar at the Mississippi National Guard in Flowood, near Jackson, was set up with 2,000 meals to process employees for immigration violations on Wednesday. 

There were seven lines, one for each location that was hit. 

‘I’ve never done anything like this,’ Chris Heck, resident agent in charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit in Jackson, told The Associated Press inside the hangar. ‘This is a very large worksite operation.’  

Koch Foods, which based in Park Ridge, Illinois, is one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. and employs about 13,000 people, with operations in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee.

Forbes ranks it as the 135th largest privately held company in the U.S., with an estimated $3.2 billion in annual revenue. 

The Morton plant that was raided produces more than 700,000 tons of poultry feed a year. The company has no relation to prominent conservative political donors and activists Charles and David Koch.

A handcuffed woman stares though the chain link fencing at Koch Foods Inc following her arrest on Wednesday

Workers who were found to have legal status are pictured leaving the Koch Foods Inc., processing plant in Morton on Wednesday as authorities rounded up their colleagues

Friends, coworkers and family watch as U.S. immigration officials raid the Koch Foods Inc., plant in Morton

Agents arrived at the Morton plant, passing a chain-link fence with barbed wire on top, with a sign that said the company was hiring. Mike Hurst, the U.S. attorney for Mississippi, was at the scene.

Workers had their wrists tied with plastic bands and were told to deposit personal belongings in clear plastic bags. Agents collected the bags before they boarded buses.

‘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?’

The raids, planned months ago, was another demonstration of Trump’s signature domestic priority to crack down illegal immigration. 

Such large shows of force were common under President George W. Bush, most notably at a kosher meatpacking plant in tiny Postville, Iowa, in 2008. 

President Barack Obama avoided them, limiting his workplace immigration efforts to low-profile audits that were done outside of public view.

Trump resumed workplace raids, but the months of preparation and hefty resources they require make them rare.

This young woman cries while standing outside the Koch Foods Inc., plant as U.S. immigration officials raid the plant in Morton

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