U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday arrested roughly 680 undocumented immigrants at seven Mississippi poultry processing facilities.
An ICE spokesman confirmed the raids to The Hill, saying it was part of a coordinated operation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
“In what is believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation’s history, today at seven sites… ICE HSI (Homeland Security Investigation) special agents executed administrative and criminal search warrants resulting in the detention of approximately 680 illegal aliens,” Mike Hurst, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, said Wednesday afternoon.
“The arrests today were part of a year-long investigation,” ICE Acting Director Matt Albence added.
About 600 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fanned out across the plants operated by five companies, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing.
Today, ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence and @SDMSNews @USAttyHurst announced the results of the execution of federal search warrants by HSI special agents at multiple locations across the state of #Mississippi. The largest single-state #worksite enforcement action in history. pic.twitter.com/BiR7l0cBuv
— ICE (@ICEgov) August 7, 2019
