On Aug. 7, 2019, seven poultry plants in central Mississippi, some of the biggest employers in the region, were raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Authorities arrested 680 workers, more than half from plants right in Morton. As President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to serve a second term, he and his advisers have said workplace raids will be restarted as part of their promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in history. The Biden administration had stopped workplace raids, although it continued removing immigrants with targeted operations. This promise has left people in the area anxious about the deep impact new workplace raids could have on the community's psyche and the economy. "What will happen if all our people get deported?" asks Lorena Quiroz, the executive director of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, an organization that advocates for immigrant rights in Mississippi. She wonders whether Americans understand the extent to which the slaughtering and packaging of poultry depends on the undocumented workforce. Quiroz says that since the presidential election in November, she has received calls from people worried about potential new workplace raids in the area. "Our whole focus has been this: preparing, getting ready, making sure that we have resources," she emphasizes.
Trump's team says they'll first go after migrants with criminal records and final orders of deportation. Tom Homan, Trump's incoming border czar, has suggested people who have been ordered to leave the country but don't, become fugitives. During the raids in 2019, most of the migrants picked up by ICE didn't have a record. Out of the nearly 700 people detained, about 230 were removed from the country under prior removal orders and other causes, according to the Mississippi Center for Justice. Local immigration activists told NPR that agents also briefly detained people with work permits. Workplace raids have also hurt small businesses in Morton. Todd Hensley, who owns the thrift store in downtown Morton, says if unauthorized immigrants were deported again, he'd lose 50 percent of his business. "I'm gonna be aggravated because everyone would be gone, and I'm not gonna make any money," Hensley says. "I might close down if they leave — it'd be that serious." El Pueblo, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to immigrants, is trying to help to ease the fears. "We can't predict the future, but we can at least help people prepare," says Executive Director Mike Oropeza. Oropeza's group, which has community centers in towns affected by the 2019 raids, is helping parents complete guardianship and power of attorney paperwork for their kids in case they are deported.
Comentários