Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a workplace raid at a collection of chicken processing plants in Mississippi yesterday evening, sweeping up hundreds of humans who were just doing their jobs, living their lives, and minding their own business.
At least 680 people were arrested during the raids at the chicken plants outside Jackson, Mississippi where the undocumented employees were committing the mortal sin of preparing chicken for America's dinner tables and paying payroll taxes.
From USA Today:
About 600 agents fanned out across the plants involving several companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing. They occurred in small towns near Jackson with a workforce made up largely of Latino immigrants, including Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie and Sebastapol. [...]
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?”
Indeed, how will you get your chicken?
That's obviously not the most immediate concern when hundreds of adults are separated from their children and families, but it's not as if there's nearly 700 other people lined up to fill these jobs now that Trump's racial gestapo has purged the plants of undesirable humans.
ICE agents passed by a sign that read 'now hiring' on their way to arrest hundreds of workers because the plants cannot fill every available position even if they accept undocumented workers.
Every red hat-wearing Trump voter in Mississippi who has ever claimed that immigrants 'took our jobs' should be lined up for these jobs, right?
The Trump regime apparently had no plan in place to handle the children of the undocumented workers they arrested yesterday evening. Neighbors and good samaritans reportedly did what they could on their own.
In Forest, Mississippi, strangers and neighbors volunteered to take children with nowhere to go after their parents were detained at a local gym for the night, according to CNN affiliate WJTV. Volunteers distributed donated food and drinks. But according to WJTV, most children sobbed rather than ate.
"I need my dad ... he's not a criminal," one little girl cried as she spoke with the network outside the gym. [...]
Brittany Reynoso said she came to the parking lot in case members of her church had gotten caught up in the raid. She wanted them to see a familiar face if they were released from custody.
"It's definitely a ghost town. It is so empty. I've never seen Morton or Forest or any of the surrounding areas look so empty during the day," she said. "It is horrible. And I honestly don't think these communities will make it without them. because they really and truly are the backbone of what's keeping this town afloat."
Are we great yet?