Morton and nearby towns in central Mississippi saw the biggest workplace ICE raids in the country in 2019, when nearly 700 workers were arrested from chicken processing plants. Five years later, the impact is still felt here, even as activists and immigrants brace for more workplace raids under a second Trump term.

Summary

The 2019 ICE raids on Mississippi poultry plants, which detained 680 workers, have left the immigrant community in Morton scarred and fearful of renewed workplace raids under Trump, who plans mass deportations.

Residents recall the trauma, with children left stranded and families torn apart. Local businesses, reliant on immigrant workers, suffered economically, while poultry plants quickly resumed operations.

Activists and nonprofits are preparing families for potential detentions, emphasizing the economic and social impacts of such raids.

Many undocumented workers fear another round of disruptions and family separations.

  • @Alteon
    4•3 days ago

    Her policies were all pretty progressive though: childcare support, taxing the rich, supporting the middle class…short of pushing UBI or free higher education, I really don’t know how much more she could have done without alienating center-democrats.

    I mean. Sure…I get that she leaned into the center, but from her perspective (and likely at the advice of her staff) she believed that she already HAD the left and that her goal was to try and speak to centrists to come over to the Democrats side of the aisle “look, we have soo many people from the right even supporting us.” I honestly don’t know how she could have played it differently - it feels like it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” sort of ordeal. Like, imagine that she pushed a solid progressive campaign and lost…I feel like everyone would have jumped down her throat about not branching out “why did you speak only to the solid, reliable liberals planning to vote you instead of going out to get the votes of others?”. I don’t know. That’s my two cents. If I’m off base, just let me know I’ve been hoping for someone to break it down for me.