New Yorker: After ICE Came to Morton, Mississippi: About one in ten of the city’s residents was jailed or fired after raids at local chicken plants. But, for most, Morton is still home.

In August of this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids of meat processing plants in Mississippi and reportedly arrested 680 immigrants.  In this press release, America’s Voice highlights the report of Charles Bethea for the New Yorker on how the small town of Morton, Mississippi, was transformed by its large Latino immigrant community and the place of “the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation’s history.”

Bethea details the rise of the Mississippi poultry plants, where immigrants flocked from Central and South America to work and build their home, to the town’s demise after an attack on its people in the form of a massive immigration roundup and even fears of an attack along the lines of what happened in El Paso.

What once was built on immigrants, welcoming them into their community, is now a town demoralized, afraid to come out behind the curtain in fear of another catastrophe.

Cristina, an immigrant impacted by the raids, explains, “‘We’ve been threatened that immigration will come there,’ she said. Sitting in her store, without customers, she began to cry. ‘Look at what’s happening,’ she said. ‘Look at how they come to kill Hispanics. I’m afraid to go to Walmart. I’m afraid to go to the mall. To the movies. We’re not well. Not well. This has affected us so much. We can’t work. Every day, every day, I pray to God that my husband comes home. Because immigration is everywhere.’”

KJ