US immigration: ICE arrests nearly 700 people in Mississippi raids

The co-ordinated operations targeted workers at seven agricultural processing plants who allegedly did not have proper documentation.

Videos and photos showed agents arriving in buses to question and arrest the people.

Some children were taken to a local gym after they came home to find their parents gone.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said "approximately 680 removable aliens" had been detained.

US President Donald Trump announced an immigration crackdown in June, saying "millions of illegal aliens who [had] found their way into the US" would be removed.

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The raids took place just hours before Mr Trump arrived in the majority Latino city of El Paso to mark a mass shooting which left 22 people dead.

What happened at the plants?

About 600 ICE agents arrived at the chicken processing plants, owned by five different companies, in the towns of Bay Springs, Canton, Carthage, Morton, Pelahatchie and Sebastopol.

The agency's acting director, Matthew Albence, told the Associated Press news agency it was one of the largest enforcement operations against undocumented immigrants.

Friends and family looked on as officers surrounded plants and began to arrest the workers.
 

At a Mississippi school, the children and family members of immigrants plucked out of their workplaces by federal agents in today’s historic #ICEraids weep, unsure when or if they’ll see their loved ones again. Their back to school week. Shared with permission from Miriam Sanchez pic.twitter.com/0vr3CEWPTj

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) August 7, 2019