Op-Ed (Mississippi)
Amelia McGowan
USA Today
October 3, 2019
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Tags: ICE Raids, Immigration, Immigration Process
Organizations mentioned/involved: Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ)
DETAILS
Those left behind have a share in the terror caused by the raids. Deep fear has rippled through the immigrant communities clustered around the very poultry plants that, a generation ago, recruited them to work here. My clients — workers in those plants and their families — are afraid to leave their homes. Mothers are locked in their trailers with the shades drawn, only leaving to pick up food for their children at a pre-arranged time. Children are scared to go to school, because their loved ones could be snatched away by ICE before they return.
Each of these workers and their families urgently need legal representation to challenge constitutional defects in the raids and to raise other defenses. But geography is destiny when it comes to access to justice in America, and there is still far less of it in Mississippi than almost anywhere else. Immigration authorities are targeting Mississippi precisely because access to legal help is so limited.