Federal authorities announced Wednesday afternoon that approximately 680 people were detained by immigration agents during coordinated raids on workplaces in the early morning hours of Wednesday across Mississippi. According to Mike Hurst (U.S. Attorney for Southern District of Mississippi), the operation holds the record for “what’s believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s history”. Hurst said that more than 650 Homeland Security Investigations agents executed federal and administrative criminal search warrants for illegal immigration violations at seven locations in six cities. Hurst stated that there were two Morton sites and one each in Carthage and Canton, Pelahatchie and Walnut Grove. Family members, lawyers and advocates for immigrants’ rights were quick to respond. Joshua Tom, American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, stated that his organization had joined several national and local groups, including the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, and the Mississippi Center for Justice to assist those who were affected by raids. Matthew Albence, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that the raids were part a year-long investigation. According to the Associated Press, hundreds of illegal workers were bused into Flowood to be processed at a military hangar. Hurst, citing the lengthy planning involved in the operation, denied that the raids were connected to a mass shooting at El Paso, Texas, over the weekend in which 22 people were killed by a gunman. Investigators claim that the suspect in the white supremacist attack on El Paso, Texas posted writings claiming he wanted to stop “Hispanic Invasion”. Family members and friends gathered at the Koch Foods Morton plant to say goodbye. They shouted “Let them Go!” According to an Associated Press report, “Let them go!” Marshall Goff, an immigration lawyer based in Jackson, is with Chhabra & Gibbs. Marshall Goff, an immigration attorney based in Jackson, said that his office had received calls from clients all morning. According to news reports, HSI agents found in a variety of poultry processing plants in the state. These included a Koch Foods Plant in Morton, Peco Foods, Walnut Grove, Canton and Bay Springs, PH Food Inc., Pearl River Foods, Carthage, and A&B Inc., Pelahatchie. Bryan Cox, an ICE spokesperson, said that the agency was still working on more details following the raids. The raid could prove to be a problem for Mississippi’s poultry sector, which employs over 25,000 people in the state. Although employers could be subject to criminal sanctions, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Syracuse University) released a May report that found only seven individuals were charged in seven cases between April 2018-March 2019. The TRAC report also noted that sentences for those convicted of criminal offenses were rare since 1986. Mississippi state law also requires employers to check the work authorization status of workers through the federally-administered E-Verify system, which confirms a worker’s I-9 form against other records. Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Jackson’s mayor, decried the raids and called them “dehumanizing” and “ineffective as a tactic to protect citizens from potential danger.” He also asked for employers to verify the work authorization status of workers through the federally-administrated E-Verify system. This confirms a worker’s I-9 form against other records. Lumumba’s administration passed an anti-racial, ethnic profiling ordinance. There was some debate about whether this made Jackson a “sanctuary city” for immigrants. ICE agents will interview and photograph detainees and then take them to a Jena facility. Officials have confirmed that any other individuals who are eligible for a detention option based on “humanitarian grounds” will be returned to their original detention location, but they will still need to appear before an immigration judge. A spokesperson for ICE said that people can call the hotline numbers 855-479-0502 and 888-351-4024 to locate detained individuals. This story is still in development. Please check back regularly for more updates._x000D