ICE Releases 300 of 680 Detainees Based on Humanitarian Grounds

After the horrific news that Latinx children would be orphaned after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted massive raids at several plants in Mississippi, some of those parents have returned home. According to NPR, about 300 of the 680 people detained yesterday in the largest single-day sweep, have been released from detention. Some of those released included 18 minors. One of the youngest workers that got detained was just 14-years-old.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi said in a statement that based on humanitarian grounds, many of those people were released. For example, authorities a number of detainees if they had a child at home. If both parents were detained, they would release one of those parents. If a single parent was held, they’d release that parent. The good news is all those children crying wondering where their mom and dad had gone, have at least one parent back home. The trauma, however, will remain forever.

According to this statement by the U.S. Attorney’s office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), also allowed detainees to make arrangements to have their children be picked up from school since they couldn’t do it themselves. Those that have been let go are not out of danger. They still face possible deportation.

“They were placed into proceedings before the federal immigration courts and will have their day in court at a later date,” ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said in an email to The Associated Press, according to NPR.

The raids at the Koch Foods Inc in Morton, Mississippi come on the heels of a nearly eight-year-long legal battle against the food processing plant. The United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) sued Koch Foods because they allege “Koch Foods Inc supervisors engaged in both racial and sexual harassment of Latina workers.”

The allegations against supervisors from Latinx workers are dreadful and include supervisors touching them sexually and making sexually suggestive comments to Latina employees. They also allege that Latinx were abused physically and charged money to do “everyday work activities.”

“As part of its settlement, Koch Foods Inc. agreed to a three-year federal consent decree to change its discriminatory practices,” Payday reports. “As part of the consent decree, Koch Foods Inc. was forced to create a 24-hour-a-day bilingual hotline for workers to use to file complaints.”

Now, since the raid, Koch Foods Inc. said they would resume all work activity at their plants. “The company intends to continue to operate all shifts at the facility and minimize customer impact,” their statement said.

We’re just wondering who they’re going to hire to do that work?