(Newswire.net — August 10, 2019) — U.S. Immigration Services detained about 680 illegal immigrants in Mississippi, in a massive raid described by a federal prosecutor as a record-breaking operation.
Even more than the arrested migrants, these raids had an impact on their children, many of whom were abandoned and left to their own hands by the civil service.
Children in the town of Forest were taken to a local gym after they came home and realized they have no parents waiting for them. Local media published shocking photographs of children left alone and dependent on the help of well-meaning neighbors and family friends.
Ashton Pitman posted a video on Twitter showing children of illegal immigrants “being grabbed by federal agents at their workplaces crying, not knowing if they will ever see them again.”
“One child went to kindergarten Tuesday and his parents were arrested just a day later,” Scott County Superintendent Tony McGee revealed to a local newspaper. He added that at least six families in the district have at least one parent arrested in the raid.
According to a statement from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), some children will be provisionally released after determining whether they have a US citizenship and what immigration history they have.
Police: Migrants from children of American citizens will be released
In one video clip showing friends and family, including children, are seen watching police surround the Koch Foods plant in Morton and arresting workers. The daughter of one of the detained workers cries uncontrollably as the arrested people board a bus.
“Let them go! Let them go,” family members yelled at the police. The migrants arrested were transferred to a hangar at the Mississippi National Guard base near Jackson.
“Her mom’s here. Her mom is her sole legal guardian,” a woman explains to the police officer pointing out the child in tears.
“Please, can I just see my mother, please” pleads the crying little girl to a cop. She was eventually allowed to see her mother before she was taken.
Still, the little girl got the good news.
“I’ll tell you something, she won’t be deported because she has a child who is an American citizen. It’s going to be okay, don’t worry, your mom won’t be deported, I promise you,” the police officer calmed this girl down.
The biggest anti-migration race in US history
Mississippi Southern District Attorney Mike Hurst told reporters that the arrests occurred at seven locations in six cities in Mississippi on Wednesday.
“The raids are, we believe, the largest immigration law enforcement operation in any federal state in our nation’s history,” he added.
Although the Attorney General did not want to disclose where the raids were carried out, CNN reports that police stormed the food processing factories.
The photos and footages on social networks show agents arriving on buses and arresting people who do not have the necessary papers to stay and work in the US. As many as 600 ICE agents have raided chicken processing plants in the cities of Bay Springs, Canton, Morton, Sebastopol and others.