Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 680 illegal immigrants in the biggest single-state raid in U.S. history.
The arrests took place Wednesday in seven different food processing facilities in towns across Mississippi—including Carthage, Pelahatcie, Sebastapol, Bay Springs, Morton, and Canton, the Associated Press reported.
Roughly 600 agents were involved in the operation, spreading out to plants owned by five different companies.
The raid came after President Donald Trump said in July that ICE would begin cracking down on illegal immigrants who have been ordered deported.
“In what is believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation’s history, today at seven sites,” Mike Hurst, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, told reporters Wednesday.
Hurst said special agents of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit “executed administrative and criminal search warrants resulting in the detention of approximately 680 illegal aliens.”
“We are first and foremost a nation of laws and the rule of law is the bedrock, the very foundation, of our great country,” Hurst said. “I heard someone say that a country without borders is not a country at all, and while I agree with that, I would also add that without law, there is no order. Without the enforcement of law, there is no justice.”
Detained aliens in Morton, 40 miles east of Jackson, were put into three buses, transferred to a military hangar, and processed for immigration violations, according to the Associated Press.
“These are not new laws, nor is the enforcement of them new,” acting ICE Director Matt Albence said. “The arrests today were the result of a yearlong criminal investigation. And the arrests and warrants that were executed today are just another step in that investigation.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, had some strong words about the recent arrests, saying: “Let’s be clear: ICE raids of this scale are not conducted for immigration enforcement, they’re to strike fear in our communities in a time when Latinos are already living in terror.”
Castro has come under scrutiny recently. He released names and employment information Tuesday for San Antonio residents who have donated the maximum amount to Trump.
Six of the donors Castro exposed also donated to him and his twin brother Julian Castro, a Democratic candidate for president.
This exchange is *chef kiss*
Rep. Castro: “Look I don’t want anyone to be harassed or —“
Willie Geist: “Well they will be because you put their names out there.”
Rep. Castro: “That was not my intention —“
Willie Geist: “But that’s what will happen.”
pic.twitter.com/yTOwgiOlVi— Calli Norton (@CalliNorton) August 7, 2019
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