Of the 680 people arrested in an August 7 raid of poultry plants and other agrifood facilities in Mississippi, 303 have been released, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
On August 7, ICE conducted raids at Peco Foods poultry plants in Canton, Bay Springs and Sebastopol; the Koch Foods poultry plant in Morton, grocery distributor MP Foods in Pelahatchie and shipping company PH Food in Morton.
In a press release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office one day after the raids, about 30 of those originally detained were released on humanitarian grounds at the individual sites where they were arrested, while the remainder released after being processed by ICE, also at the sites where they were detained.
“Pursuant to HSI procedures as part of this operation, all those detained yesterday were asked when they arrived at the processing center whether they had any children who were at school or childcare and needed to be picked up. In order to make it possible for detained aliens to contact family members and address childcare issues, HSI made cell phones available for use by detained aliens to make arrangements for the care of their children or other dependents. In addition, HSI had liaison officers working with the school districts to facilitate this process,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release stated.
“As part of HSI procedures pursuant to this operation, if HSI encountered two alien parents with minor children at home, HSI released one of the parents on humanitarian grounds and returned that individual to the place from which they were arrested. HSI similarly released any single alien parent with minor children a home on humanitarian grounds and physically returned that person to the place where he or she was originally detained. Based on these procedures, it is believed that all children were with at least one of their parents as of last night.”
In an August 9 email to WATT Global Media, Bryan D. Cox, ICE Southern Region communications director, said ICE makes custody determinations of a case-by-case basis, based on the totality of the circumstances. “Persons arrested are subsequently evaluated for a custody determination, and evaluation of their case specifics determines if they may be detained, released subject to monitoring, released on their own recognizance, etc., pending their court date,” Cox wrote.
Those who were released after being processed by ICE, according to Cox, were presented with a charging document that will require them to appear in court in front of a federal immigration judge.
Cox said that further information on the situation will be available “in the coming days.”
In response to the raids, the National Chicken Council, NCC, wrote a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, asking for changes in law and policies that will help prevent employers in the poultry industry from inadvertently hiring illegal immigrants.
