More details of immigration raid in Mississippi, US

The raid, which saw workers from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, El Salvador and Germany taken into custody, has terrorized the immigrant population of Laurel. Fabiola Pena, a 21-year-old mother, told the press about the moment the ICE agents stormed the Howard Industries factory: I was crying the whole time. I didnt know what to do. We didnt know what was happening because everyone started running. Some people thought it was a bomb, but then we figured out it was immigration.

The aftermath of the raid has left the workers and their families traumatized and confused. Bill Chandler, the executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA), told Reuters, People are very, very fearful. People in the Latino community are afraid to go out of their homes. In many cases they are afraid to go to work. Families have been separated, in some cases with both parents of a child held in custody, leaving children suddenly without care. If you have young children going to school, and they come home and find their parents gone, that is a major crisis, said Chandler.

The superintendent of schools in Jones County, where Laurel is located, says half of the 160 Hispanic students did not attend school on Tuesday.

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