An 11-year-old girl could not hold back her tears as she begged for father's release after he was among nearly 700 workers arrested du...
An 11-year-old girl could not hold back her tears as she begged for father's release after he was among nearly 700 workers arrested during a massive ICE raid in Mississippi.
Agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants and arrested 680 mostly Latino workers on Wednesday.
One of those workers happened to be the father of Magdalena Gomez Gregorio.
'Government please show some heart, let my parent be free with everybody else please…' she said through tears to a CBS reporter.
'My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal,' she says while standing next to other children whose parents had been arrested.
Photos showed several children burying their faces in their hands as they cried for their parents.
Magdalena Gomez Gregorio (pictured), 11, could not hold back her tears as she begged for father's release after he was among nearly 700 workers arrested during a massive ICE raid in Mississippi
'Government please show some heart, let my parent be free with everybody else please…' she said through tears. 'My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal,' she says while standing next to other children whose parents had been arrested
Photos showed several children (two brothers whose mother was arrested are pictured) burying their faces in their hands as they cried for their parents
Wednesday's operation was the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.
The raids 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 ICE agents surrounded the perimeters of a Koch Foods Inc plant in Morton to prevent workers from fleeing during the raids.
Workers rounded up in that raid filled three buses, two for men and one for women.
They were then taken to a military hangar to be processed for immigration violations.
About 70 family members, friends and residents waved goodbye and shouted: 'Let them go! Let them go!'
Later, two more buses arrived.
Wednesday's operation was the largest workplace sting in at least a decade. The raids 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 ICE agents surrounded the perimeters of a Koch Foods Inc plant in Morton to prevent workers from fleeing during the raids
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.
Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE, 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.
Some employees tried to flee on foot but were captured in the parking lot. Handcuffed female workers are seen outside a bus
Handcuffed workers await transportation to a processing center following a raid by US 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
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 US 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 US, with an estimated $3.2billion 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 agents 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 US 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.
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