1
00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,880
Speaker 1: The last time I was in Mississippi. It was just

2
00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:12,720
Speaker 1: before the shutdown. It was February of twenty twenty. I've

3
00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,880
Speaker 1: just pulled into a driveway of a home in a

4
00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:20,680
Speaker 1: small town called Forest, Mississippi. It's a town of around

5
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,880
Speaker 1: five thy five hundred people. It's about an hour east

6
00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,720
Speaker 1: of Jackson, which is the capital of Mississippi. On this

7
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,240
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon in early August of twenty twenty one, I'm

8
00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: going to meet up with Elena, who I haven't seen

9
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,080
Speaker 1: since I was last yere. Okay, let's go see.

10
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:37,599
Speaker 2: Let's go.

11
00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 1: When I first met Elena, it had been six months

12
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:47,280
Speaker 1: since more than six hundred ICE officers had rated seven

13
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,640
Speaker 1: chicken plants across the state of Mississippi. Close to seven

14
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: hundred workers were taken by ICE that day in August

15
00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen, and among them was Elena.

16
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,720
Speaker 3: The agents would surround the perimeter of the plant, then

17
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,679
Speaker 3: move in. They would check for proof of residency from

18
00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 3: the workers. Those without it were lined up by bus

19
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,080
Speaker 3: to an airport hangar for processing. Some will be arrested

20
00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 3: for crimes, some will be deported immediately.

21
00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,560
Speaker 4: I want people to know that if they come into

22
00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,360
Speaker 4: the United States illegally, they're getting out. They're going to

23
00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,960
Speaker 4: be brought out, and the terms as a very good deterrence.

24
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 1: The last time I saw Elena as she was living

25
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 1: yards away from a factory that used to make food

26
00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,200
Speaker 1: for some of the chickens that would end up in

27
00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 1: the processing plants. During the pandemic. She was displaced from

28
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:47,680
Speaker 1: there and had to move several times. But now she's

29
00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:53,520
Speaker 1: living in a home that's overlooking this beautiful, expansive, lush

30
00:01:53,800 --> 00:02:02,880
Speaker 1: green lawns.

31
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,280
Speaker 5: Lesnias algueves.

32
00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 1: She tells me she recently contracted COVID. Right now, she

33
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,000
Speaker 1: says she's no longer positive for the virus, but her

34
00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,240
Speaker 1: nine year old son has also tested positive, and now

35
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,600
Speaker 1: her two teenage daughters are currently sick with COVID. She

36
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:37,959
Speaker 1: says they're inside the house, just resting. Yesta. Elena says,

37
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,480
Speaker 1: the virus is already here and everywhere, no matter how

38
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,160
Speaker 1: much you try to protect yourself from it. Then she

39
00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: points across her big yard to her neighbor's house. Her

40
00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:02,720
Speaker 1: neighbor's daughter is intubated in the hospital with COVID. She's

41
00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,480
Speaker 1: fifteen years old and she's been in bed for about

42
00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:11,880
Speaker 1: a week now. This week also marks the two year

43
00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:16,640
Speaker 1: anniversary of the ice raids, so all of these images

44
00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 1: and videos of that tragic day are being broadcast across

45
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:24,440
Speaker 1: the news here locally. It's really painful for Elena to

46
00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 1: have to relive that. Do you remember when I saw

47
00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,120
Speaker 1: you last and you said, I'm going to figure out

48
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,320
Speaker 1: a way to survive? So case.

49
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:45,240
Speaker 5: Yop momento.

50
00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 1: The When Elena worked at the chicken plant, she says,

51
00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 1: she sometimes didn't have enough money to even and buy

52
00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,520
Speaker 1: food for her own kids. But Elena doesn't plan on

53
00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,480
Speaker 1: going back to the chicken plant for a lot of reasons.

54
00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 1: One of them is because she still doesn't have the

55
00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:13,880
Speaker 1: right papers, and on top of that, she's also really

56
00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: worried there could be another ice.

57
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,719
Speaker 5: Raid waritas Lamna de Miraso.

58
00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,039
Speaker 1: She says, basically, her future is in the hands of

59
00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,800
Speaker 1: immigration agents. After the raids at the plants, she was

60
00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,160
Speaker 1: taken and held for a day, so now she has

61
00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,800
Speaker 1: an ongoing immigration case. And Elena isn't alone. A lot

62
00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,159
Speaker 1: of people who were picked up during those raids are

63
00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,760
Speaker 1: in very similar situations.

64
00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:50,560
Speaker 5: Solo and Delius and yode Vengo la Vidados.

65
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,480
Speaker 1: Watching Elena talk about that day, it's as if the

66
00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,159
Speaker 1: raids were like an earthquake that never stopped. Because right

67
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,480
Speaker 1: now she's thinking back to the day of the raids

68
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,400
Speaker 1: and she's asking herself what would have happened to her

69
00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,400
Speaker 1: children if she had been deported, And then she's like,

70
00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,280
Speaker 1: I would have been forced to go back to Watemala

71
00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,960
Speaker 1: and take my teenagers to a country that I haven't

72
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,280
Speaker 1: been to in fifteen years and that they don't know.

73
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:22,479
Speaker 5: And Gambia Kipos, Navida, e Yo Bottom, Bucala, Maracomo, Mantenels.

74
00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,240
Speaker 1: But here in Mississippi, she's like, I'll be able to

75
00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,800
Speaker 1: find a way out. I mean, I'll lose everything maybe,

76
00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,839
Speaker 1: but I'm going to find a way out. And despite

77
00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 1: all the risks that are involved in stain right here

78
00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,880
Speaker 1: in Mississippi, Elena and her family say that they're going

79
00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:52,200
Speaker 1: to persist because Mississippi is their home. From Fudromedia and PRX,

80
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,360
Speaker 1: It's Latino Usa, I'm Maria no Josa. This week, two

81
00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,279
Speaker 1: years after the massive ice raids at chicken processing places

82
00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:04,520
Speaker 1: across the state, we return again to Mississippi in our

83
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,560
Speaker 1: continuing reporting on the state. We're going to catch up

84
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,760
Speaker 1: with people we met in last year's episode and this episode,

85
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,160
Speaker 1: we're going to look at the history of the poultry

86
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,159
Speaker 1: industry in the South and how it stems back decades

87
00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:30,120
Speaker 1: and continues to systematically oppress the most vulnerable. In August

88
00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty, Latino USA aired after the Mississippi Raids.

89
00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,120
Speaker 1: I had traveled to Mississippi in February of twenty twenty

90
00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,000
Speaker 1: to see how communities were coping several months after the

91
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 1: ice raids, when most major news outlets had already moved

92
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 1: on from the story. And now I'm back in Mississippi,

93
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,440
Speaker 1: where poultry is big business, and we're following up with

94
00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,080
Speaker 1: some of the people that I met last year to

95
00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:05,400
Speaker 1: see what's changed here what hasn't. It's another boiling hot,

96
00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:10,440
Speaker 1: humid day in central Mississippi, and I'm back standing in

97
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,400
Speaker 1: front of that large chicken processing plant that I first

98
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,680
Speaker 1: visited in twenty twenty. This is one of the total

99
00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,880
Speaker 1: of fifty processing plants that are scattered across the state.

100
00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,760
Speaker 1: The poultry industry is actually the largest income producing agricultural

101
00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,400
Speaker 1: commodity in the state of Mississippi, and it's been that

102
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,080
Speaker 1: way for the past twenty one years. This one is

103
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,560
Speaker 1: one of the ones that was raided by ice. A

104
00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,600
Speaker 1: massive truck just pulled up yet that is probably going

105
00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 1: to get loaded with chickens. You might remember Lorena kiros

106
00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:51,160
Speaker 1: I met her when I arrived here last year in

107
00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,760
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. She's a community organizer. The raids motivated her

108
00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,560
Speaker 1: to basically create a nonprofit, the Immigrant Alliance for Justice

109
00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:05,440
Speaker 1: and Equity, in response to what happened this plant. Did

110
00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:06,360
Speaker 1: it ever close down?

111
00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 6: Never? As a matter of fact, some of the people

112
00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,960
Speaker 6: that were caught at at the race, they're back in there, and.

113
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,360
Speaker 1: She says she's heard about this from a lot of

114
00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,000
Speaker 1: people in the area. Okay, I need to know how

115
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 1: that happens.

116
00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,040
Speaker 6: They would just pretty much pretend that they didn't know

117
00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,480
Speaker 6: that they were part of the race. They were invited

118
00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,720
Speaker 6: to come reapply. They actually went out and recruited and

119
00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:31,560
Speaker 6: they would talk to people. Hey, sikonoc people would show up,

120
00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,000
Speaker 6: they would know who it was. But if you gave

121
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,720
Speaker 6: them a different ID, you will get hired.

122
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,200
Speaker 1: Get Wait wait, wait, wait when did that happen?

123
00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:39,520
Speaker 7: When?

124
00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,520
Speaker 6: When as COVID started to hit Because people were getting

125
00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,160
Speaker 6: through right after we left, right after you left, So

126
00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:50,120
Speaker 6: you're saying that right after we left February of twenty twenty.

127
00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:54,840
Speaker 1: It was six months after the raid, and it.

128
00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,760
Speaker 8: Was kind of like, no, things are not moving, they're

129
00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,840
Speaker 8: asking for papers, and you're saying that then, and then

130
00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,040
Speaker 8: they started saying to people recruiting actively in the community.

131
00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:06,679
Speaker 6: That's right, that's right.

132
00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:07,199
Speaker 3: Now.

133
00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,319
Speaker 6: We were essential workers. Now, we were needed now when

134
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,920
Speaker 6: people you know, were going home and we're getting sick

135
00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,559
Speaker 6: or didn't even want to come and get exposed, we

136
00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:21,080
Speaker 6: were asked to come in and take these jobs.

137
00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,439
Speaker 1: Lorena puts it this way succinctly. The workers went from

138
00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:32,000
Speaker 1: being undocumented to then being essential overnight. How do you

139
00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:32,640
Speaker 1: feel about that?

140
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,679
Speaker 6: I mean, you know that's bullshit, right, I mean, we've

141
00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:40,760
Speaker 6: always been essential. It's traumatic, it's deceitful, it's painful, especially

142
00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,480
Speaker 6: with the hateful words coming out of the last president,

143
00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,679
Speaker 6: right of all these horrible things of what we are,

144
00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,080
Speaker 6: and then COVID hits and we become essential.

145
00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,000
Speaker 1: Yes, Lorena is deeply upset about all of this, but

146
00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 1: she's decided to use her anger instead to organize because

147
00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,679
Speaker 1: she worries that things could get bad once again at

148
00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:04,800
Speaker 1: these processing plants.

149
00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,120
Speaker 6: They're not going to have enough people working and they're

150
00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:08,719
Speaker 6: going to come back and get us. Oh, we need you,

151
00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:10,880
Speaker 6: we want you to come back. We're going to pay

152
00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,120
Speaker 6: you a quarter more, come on back. And it's a

153
00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:14,920
Speaker 6: vicious cycle.

154
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,720
Speaker 1: Lorena points out this vicious cycle that became clear during

155
00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,880
Speaker 1: the pandemic. First there was a necessity to feed the country.

156
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,400
Speaker 1: Then the workers who were doing this got sick and

157
00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,280
Speaker 1: they had to leave the plants. So the companies began

158
00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,600
Speaker 1: recruiting undocumented workers, doing that even after the raids had

159
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 1: taken place. What does the recruiting look like now after

160
00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:39,120
Speaker 1: the raid?

161
00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:44,640
Speaker 6: So they have contractors, they're really slick. The actual management

162
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,680
Speaker 6: contracts whatever company it is, and it changes every three

163
00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:53,599
Speaker 6: to six months. These contractors are sometimes community people and

164
00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:56,280
Speaker 6: they recruit the people from the community.

165
00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,959
Speaker 1: Laudna says she doesn't remember this happening back in February two,

166
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, after the raids had taken place.

167
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,360
Speaker 6: So, as a matter of fact, one of our organizers

168
00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:08,679
Speaker 6: she went and she asked for her job. Bag said, hey,

169
00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:10,880
Speaker 6: you know, my husband was deported and they were like,

170
00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,400
Speaker 6: you're not welcome here. She cried, she was humiliated. Several

171
00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:16,480
Speaker 6: of our people did that, and they were going to

172
00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,079
Speaker 6: these places and begging for work, and they were like no,

173
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,040
Speaker 6: get the hell out of here COVID hits, and I

174
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:22,440
Speaker 6: mean it.

175
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,440
Speaker 1: Was just a one to eighty. We spoke to several

176
00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,199
Speaker 1: people in central Mississippi and they told us similar stories

177
00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:34,400
Speaker 1: about poetry factories initially being reluctant to hire undocumented workers

178
00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,560
Speaker 1: because of the raids, but when the pandemic hit, as

179
00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,679
Speaker 1: lord Na tells us, there was a labor shortage, and

180
00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:45,199
Speaker 1: then she says, these factories resorted to third party labor

181
00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:46,520
Speaker 1: contracting companies.

182
00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:52,280
Speaker 7: It's a very common labor practice to try to outsource

183
00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:55,880
Speaker 7: the accountability of the hiring of undocumented people and to

184
00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,280
Speaker 7: be able to pay them less than they're playing direct

185
00:11:59,360 --> 00:11:59,880
Speaker 7: hire worker.

186
00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,839
Speaker 1: This is Angela stc. She's the author of Scratching Out

187
00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,920
Speaker 1: a Living Latinos, Race and Work in the Deep South.

188
00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,360
Speaker 1: Angela researched poultry factories in Mississippi, and she says the

189
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:17,280
Speaker 1: chicken plants have been turning to contracting companies for decades.

190
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:23,280
Speaker 7: Oftentimes the owners of these third party labor contractors are

191
00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:29,120
Speaker 7: immigrants themselves, typically have papers, can speak English right, and

192
00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,160
Speaker 7: have the cultural and economic capital to set up these companies.

193
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,480
Speaker 1: When she was living in Mississippi, she saw firsthand how

194
00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 1: this worked.

195
00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,520
Speaker 7: It seems very rare that corporations are ever actually held

196
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:45,480
Speaker 7: accountable for hiring undocumented people. And when they are, you know,

197
00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:50,000
Speaker 7: the punishments are really pretty minor financial, you know, finds

198
00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,040
Speaker 7: that don't really impact the company.

199
00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,560
Speaker 1: It was clear that since I last left Mississippi, these

200
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,959
Speaker 1: companies still needed and were depending on undocumented workers to

201
00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:11,119
Speaker 1: staff their plans. We reached out to several chicken processing

202
00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,360
Speaker 1: plants in the area, but we only heard back from one,

203
00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:19,280
Speaker 1: Pico Foods. Piko Foods said in a statement that since

204
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,959
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, they use the Everify program to

205
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:28,080
Speaker 1: screen new hires. They also said that they routinely audit

206
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,760
Speaker 1: internal hiring practices and mandate that third party contractors comply

207
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,920
Speaker 1: with all local, state, and federal immigration and employment laws.

208
00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,160
Speaker 1: When we come back, we're going to dive into the

209
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,520
Speaker 1: racial history of the poultry industry in the South and

210
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,280
Speaker 1: how these companies are looking for the most exploitable workforce

211
00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:55,439
Speaker 1: in order to earn the greatest profit. And then we

212
00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:59,800
Speaker 1: hear about an ugly turn of events, a new fear

213
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,600
Speaker 1: that's rising among those in the Latino and Latino community here.

214
00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:59,600
Speaker 1: Stay with us, Hey, we're back before the break. We

215
00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,480
Speaker 1: heard of contracting companies that were working on behalf of

216
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:08,200
Speaker 1: the poultry plants and hiring undocumented workers. Some of the

217
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,600
Speaker 1: plants are even hiring the same workers who had been

218
00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,360
Speaker 1: taken away by ice during the raids in twenty nineteen.

219
00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,960
Speaker 1: To really understand how a once fledgling poultry industry became

220
00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:25,120
Speaker 1: a nearly fifty billion dollar powerhouse that it is today,

221
00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,280
Speaker 1: we need to look back at the racial history of

222
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:32,640
Speaker 1: chicken processing plants in the South. All right, we're going

223
00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:38,520
Speaker 1: to go back to the story now. Three months after

224
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,320
Speaker 1: the Ice raids, a hearing was held by the House

225
00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,239
Speaker 1: Subcommittee on Homeland Security at Tugaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi.

226
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:50,080
Speaker 9: Toogaloo was at the center of the civil rights movement

227
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,000
Speaker 9: in Mississippi and helped set the stage for activism that

228
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,440
Speaker 9: changed the direction of our country.

229
00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,840
Speaker 1: That's Benny Thompson. He's the chairman of the committee and

230
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,120
Speaker 1: he represents Mississippi's second congressional district.

231
00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:06,520
Speaker 9: The college is a fitting venue for the Committee on

232
00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,640
Speaker 9: Homeland Security to meet today to examine the recent immigration

233
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:15,720
Speaker 9: raids and their effect on Mississippi families, children, and communities.

234
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,360
Speaker 1: One of the people at the hearing was Jerry Miles.

235
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:22,600
Speaker 1: He was the special Agent in charge of the New

236
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:27,760
Speaker 1: Orleans Field office for ICE. A congressman from Texas questioned

237
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,080
Speaker 1: Miles at the hearing.

238
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:34,320
Speaker 10: You indicated that you wanted to take away the economic incentives,

239
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,600
Speaker 10: and you do that by coming in and taking the

240
00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,600
Speaker 10: undocumented persons, have them do a purp walk, show some

241
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,960
Speaker 10: of that on television, and then you can somehow deter persons.

242
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:50,840
Speaker 11: But you don't have a purp walk for the employers.

243
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:55,600
Speaker 11: They don't get arrested. You're still investigating them. Is it

244
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,760
Speaker 11: true that there are no employers incarcerated.

245
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:00,560
Speaker 10: It is true.

246
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,520
Speaker 11: There are no employees incarcerated, and this happened months ago.

247
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:05,080
Speaker 12: That is true.

248
00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:10,080
Speaker 1: As of today, at least four low level managers at

249
00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:14,719
Speaker 1: two chicken processing plants have been indicted for allegedly hiring

250
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,760
Speaker 1: undocumented workers. No top executives have been indicted. We reached

251
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,359
Speaker 1: out to ICE and to the Department of Justice to

252
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,880
Speaker 1: follow up on any updates, but we didn't hear back.

253
00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,359
Speaker 1: Constance Slaughter Harvey is a respected civil rights leader in

254
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,480
Speaker 1: the community here in Mississippi. She was also at the

255
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,879
Speaker 1: Homeland Security hearing. She was asked a question by Congressman

256
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:43,679
Speaker 1: Steve Cohen of Tennessee that referenced a song named Mississippi Goddamn,

257
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:45,000
Speaker 1: you don't have to.

258
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:50,120
Speaker 10: Live next to me. Just give me my polity, then

259
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:51,399
Speaker 10: we body.

260
00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:04,480
Speaker 7: And not that.

261
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,920
Speaker 1: The song is by Nina Simone. It was written during

262
00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:13,440
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties. Here's Congressman

263
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,080
Speaker 1: Cohen with his question.

264
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,240
Speaker 13: Judge laughter Harvey, is that connection with the old Mississippi

265
00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,080
Speaker 13: that Nina Simone sang of similar to what we have

266
00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,640
Speaker 13: with immigrants? That there are efforts by in this state

267
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 13: that are antagonistic towards people of color.

268
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,320
Speaker 14: I would say that, if not the same, maybe a

269
00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:39,359
Speaker 14: little worse. I can identify with the disrespect and the

270
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,520
Speaker 14: inhumanity because I was treated in a similar way, but

271
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,679
Speaker 14: not nearly as bad. I knew my rights as an

272
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:53,520
Speaker 14: American citizen. These individuals don't know their rights. I could fight,

273
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:55,119
Speaker 14: they can't.

274
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: She told Let you Know USA that the images she

275
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,120
Speaker 1: saw on the day of the raids brought back memories

276
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:07,600
Speaker 1: from decades ago. To know that a law enforcement officer

277
00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:08,520
Speaker 1: would throw.

278
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,440
Speaker 14: A woman down, or a man or a child down,

279
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,280
Speaker 14: handcuffed them and put a gun to their head. That's

280
00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,560
Speaker 14: reminiscent of what happened to black people doing the movement

281
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,600
Speaker 14: to see Hispanics just round it.

282
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:25,639
Speaker 1: Up like animals and put on a bus.

283
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 9: I had a flashbad.

284
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,639
Speaker 14: And I became very angry. We have not made that

285
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 14: much change in official racism, not just in Mississippi but.

286
00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,680
Speaker 1: In this country. An advocates say there hasn't been much

287
00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,040
Speaker 1: change in the way that the poultry industry across the

288
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,919
Speaker 1: South exploits and relies on the most vulnerable workforce.

289
00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 7: The poultry industry really first began jelling as an industry

290
00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,920
Speaker 7: into something of a factory setting around World War Two.

291
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,880
Speaker 1: That's Angelus DC again. She's the author of Scratching Out

292
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 1: a Living.

293
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,639
Speaker 7: And at that time many men were involved in the

294
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,720
Speaker 7: war effort, and it was largely women and white women

295
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,600
Speaker 7: who were recruited to work in those plants.

296
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 1: In Mississippi, these plants were staffed for decades by white

297
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,320
Speaker 1: working class women up until the Civil Rights movement.

298
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 7: Once black folks in Mississippi had gained voting rights and

299
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,440
Speaker 7: civil rights, their attention turned to economic justice right, and

300
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,639
Speaker 7: they were also tired of working in the fields and

301
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:43,639
Speaker 7: in domestic work, and saw work in chicken plants and

302
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,280
Speaker 7: other factory settings as really a step up.

303
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,200
Speaker 1: In the nineteen sixties, black workers began organizing for access

304
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:52,240
Speaker 1: to these jobs.

305
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,880
Speaker 7: It wasn't until the late sixties or even early seventies

306
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,840
Speaker 7: that the black workers gained entrance into the chicken plants.

307
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 1: Angela says it was a matter of weeks before the

308
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 1: plants went from being mostly manned by white women to

309
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,040
Speaker 1: becoming an exclusively black workforce.

310
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,560
Speaker 7: What they thought was going to be a racial integration

311
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 7: of the plants really became a racial or ethnic succession

312
00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 7: in the chicken plants, and the plants turned almost exclusively

313
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:20,960
Speaker 7: to black men and women.

314
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 1: After working in the plants and seeing the grueling environment

315
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 1: they faced, black workers began organizing for better wages and

316
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:32,760
Speaker 1: working conditions during the nineteen seventies, but Angela says it

317
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:37,080
Speaker 1: took some time until they would see any actual gains, and.

318
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,359
Speaker 7: It was in the mid nineties when the chicken plants

319
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:42,639
Speaker 7: were facing the reality that they were going to have

320
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,920
Speaker 7: to negotiate with unions and with their workers, that they

321
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 7: had the idea to turn to immigrant labor.

322
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,359
Speaker 1: So companies started heavily recruiting immigrant Latino and Latina workers

323
00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: from Florida and Texas.

324
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 7: The story is not complete unless we all also think

325
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,359
Speaker 7: about the ways in which bringing in this workforce was

326
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,800
Speaker 7: an effort to keep black workers in their places. In

327
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 7: the chicken plants.

328
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:12,040
Speaker 1: Angela goes on to say that these industries strategically located

329
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,880
Speaker 1: themselves in the South because.

330
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 7: Wages were low and land was cheap, and they could

331
00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,159
Speaker 7: get people to grow chickens and to slaughter chickens at

332
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:26,639
Speaker 7: low cost. The South also as pretty poor legislation when

333
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:30,919
Speaker 7: it comes to protecting workers' rights. Many of the states

334
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 7: in the South are right to work states, so it

335
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,040
Speaker 7: makes unionizing more difficult. So these are all incentives for

336
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 7: the industry to locate in Mississippi.

337
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 1: According to the Economic Policy Institute, it's estimated that there

338
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,680
Speaker 1: are almost five hundred thousand workers in the animal slaughtering

339
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 1: and processing industry. Of those workers, nearly thirty five percent

340
00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 1: or Latino, with seventy percent of those non citizens. That

341
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,840
Speaker 1: amounts to nearly a quarter of this industry being staffed

342
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:12,400
Speaker 1: by immigrants. Yessenye is one of those workers in this category.

343
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,239
Speaker 1: She's also undocumented and from Mexico, and we met her

344
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,439
Speaker 1: on my first trip here to Mississippi. She and her

345
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 1: partner had been picked up by Ice during the raids.

346
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 1: Back then, Yasenya was six months pregnant and so she

347
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,439
Speaker 1: was eventually released, but her partner was detained for almost

348
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 1: nine months. With his absence, Yesenya had to figure out

349
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: how to provide for her family, and so she returned

350
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 1: to the chicken processing plant for work. With a big smile,

351
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 1: Ysenya opens the door and leads me into her home.

352
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 1: This is a different place from the last time. It's

353
00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: a lot bigger. Her eight years old daughter sits on

354
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,960
Speaker 1: a stool in the kitchen eating dinner. What are you eating?

355
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:05,120
Speaker 14: What's for dinner?

356
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:05,760
Speaker 12: Spaghetti?

357
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:13,320
Speaker 1: Spaghetti and what? And today was the little girl's first

358
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: day of school. Then yes and Y's husband appears and

359
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 1: says that he's on his way to work with some

360
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:27,680
Speaker 1: local folks. When I last saw him, he had literally

361
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: just been released from an Ice detention center, and well,

362
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,639
Speaker 1: he looked pretty traumatized. Now he tells me that he

363
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 1: wants to go back to work at the chicken processing plants.

364
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 1: Why are you going to go back to work at

365
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 1: a place where there was a raid? He has work

366
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: authorization now, so he says he'd feel more at ease

367
00:24:58,400 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: working at the plants.

368
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:00,080
Speaker 2: How did you get.

369
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: He has an attorney who's working with him, and he

370
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 1: was able to get work authorization while his immigration case

371
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 1: is unfolding. Wow, I don't know when was the last

372
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: time I saw one of these. It's like an ID card,

373
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:24,920
Speaker 1: an official ID card, you know, with a USA in

374
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:29,800
Speaker 1: blasm seal and it says the United States of America

375
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,439
Speaker 1: Employment Authorization and it has his name and it's valid

376
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,639
Speaker 1: for one year. So then what then you have to

377
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 1: go back and apply. He has to renew this work

378
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:47,400
Speaker 1: permit every year. Yesenya also has a kind of work

379
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: authorization while her immigration case is pending as well. It's

380
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 1: only temporary, so she still worries about her future. For now,

381
00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: she has to find a way to feed her family

382
00:25:58,280 --> 00:25:59,120
Speaker 1: during the pandemic.

383
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:11,679
Speaker 15: Seal Principo normal Rojacon for Pandemia APE American Bajoo.

384
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,000
Speaker 1: Yes, Senja says. At the beginning of the pandemic, the

385
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: working conditions at the plant were okay, but then people

386
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 1: started to not show up to work. When you say

387
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: that the only people who ended up working during the

388
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: pandemic were Latino people, what exactly do you mean American

389
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 1: a pandemia, Yes, says a lot of people say that

390
00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 1: Latinos and immigrants are taking jobs away from workers, but

391
00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, they were at the forefront doing the

392
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 1: kind of essential work that others would do. Do you

393
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 1: feel like your work is being appreciated at that level,

394
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,680
Speaker 1: like an essential worker who helped keep us off fed

395
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:17,720
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, Nomo. These mixed signals to workers have

396
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: long been at the root of American agriculture and its

397
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 1: labor policy. And Yesenya is now dealing with that. Yes,

398
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 1: Senya understands that she can still be deported at any moment.

399
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: Even so, this is not Yasenya's biggest concern right now.

400
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: I was surprised by this because in fact, she's worried

401
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: about something that's currently happening in her community. There have

402
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,159
Speaker 1: been a series of crimes against Latinos and Latinas and

403
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 1: they remain unsolved.

404
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 15: Moispana and Barrasada mahinate in sentons Temrentola.

405
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: A nineteen year old pregnant Guatemalan young woman named Maudilia

406
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:12,480
Speaker 1: Martina Ramirez Garcia and her brother, Faustino Ramirez Garcia were

407
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:14,120
Speaker 1: killed last December.

408
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 10: Today marks one month since the tragic murder of a

409
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,959
Speaker 10: Guatemalan pregnant woman and her brother in Canton.

410
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 1: The case is still open and those in the Hispanic

411
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 1: community are frustrated. Maudilia's unborn child was also killed. It

412
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: was labeled a triple homicide. The Canon Police Department says

413
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: this year there have been five murders, one Latino and

414
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 1: four black people. Canon is a small town of about

415
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: twelve thousand, with the majority of the population being black.

416
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: Latinos and Latinas constitute about eight percent of the racial makeup,

417
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 1: but they account for twenty percent of the murder this year.

418
00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: On top of that, local news outlets say that for

419
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 1: more than a decade, the Latino community has been subjected

420
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: to violence and robberies. Many people we spoke with said

421
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 1: that they really worry that they could be next. So

422
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 1: what did the police say?

423
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 15: No, no, no, Saloti sante ys.

424
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 1: This particular murder has really hit close to home for

425
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: Yesenye because she's four months pregnant. She says she sleeps

426
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: now with the fear that something could happen to her

427
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,880
Speaker 1: and her family, and that if something did, she worries

428
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: that there would be no justice because they are Latinos

429
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: and they're undocumented. The more I spent time in this

430
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: community and spoke to people, the more I was able

431
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: to see that fear was taking over their lives, and

432
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 1: it was really hard for me to believe that these

433
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: crimes remained unsolved. So I went to the Kenton Police

434
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: Department looking for answers. When I step inside the small

435
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: lobby of the squat building, I don't see a single soul.

436
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: There are only glass mirrors everywhere, so all you can

437
00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:27,240
Speaker 1: see is your reflection. I walk over to an intercom

438
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 1: and click a button and try to speak with someone,

439
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,600
Speaker 1: and yes, Officer Jackson told us to come back to

440
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 1: speak with the chief.

441
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 16: Okay, I guess, I guess, I guess.

442
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:52,000
Speaker 1: That's Officer Tanya Jackson. She's a records officer. She takes

443
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: me past the glass walls into a narrow hallway and

444
00:30:56,680 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 1: I ask her, what is the general feeling about the community.

445
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 1: Two years since the poultry plant raids.

446
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 2: That's pretty much design. It hasn't really really changed. They

447
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 2: still have their concerns.

448
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: What are those concerns?

449
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 2: As far as you know, just for.

450
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 16: Us off police safety answering the calls, showing them that

451
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 16: we are concerned about their well being, may welfare.

452
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 1: So is there anything else that kind of has stood

453
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: out in terms of rising crime against these communities that

454
00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 1: over the past two years since the raid.

455
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:30,959
Speaker 2: Not really pretty much design.

456
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,680
Speaker 1: While Officer Jackson and I speak, Stephen Johnson, the interim

457
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 1: Assistant chief, stands in the background, so I ask him

458
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:43,640
Speaker 1: about the crimes that have taken place in the community.

459
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 17: We have leads, but the problem is is getting I

460
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 17: guess the community they come forward and contribute the information

461
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 17: that they have. No law enforcement agency is going to

462
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:56,040
Speaker 17: be successful after community.

463
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 1: How many of your officers speak Spanish At the moment,

464
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 1: you're saying that in the entire Canton Police Department you

465
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,600
Speaker 1: have not one officer who speaks Spanish.

466
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 17: No one that's by language.

467
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: Okay, so forgive me, but I have to I'm sorry,

468
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 1: but it's like you're saying, we're waiting on the community

469
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: to come to speak with us, and I'm saying, how

470
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:24,520
Speaker 1: do you want them to speak to you if you

471
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 1: don't have the language to speak to.

472
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 17: Them in as always a trust issue with any.

473
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: Trust, I'm talking about language. The officers say they don't

474
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 1: have anyone on site that is an interpreter, and that

475
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,600
Speaker 1: if they need someone to interpret, they have to call

476
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 1: an outside resource. Do you have people who speak mom? Mom,

477
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,479
Speaker 1: I'm sorry speaking I'm sorry. Do you have anyone who

478
00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: speaks the language of mom? Did you know that that

479
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: was a language that is I want to track in

480
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: that that was not so? But you do know that

481
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: there are multiple indigenous languages that are spoken in this community.

482
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, I'm gonna just go there. Please forgive me.

483
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: So we were in Mississippi the history in terms of

484
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 1: police community relations, and I need to understand how how

485
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to place this. This is a community that

486
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 1: has been here clearly not going anywhere, like for years.

487
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 1: So you have to understand that I comm in and

488
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't understand, like who's advocating for them

489
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 1: in this police department?

490
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 17: Like I said, we don't have any Spanish speaking in

491
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 17: the officers where we have advertised, we have acts and

492
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 17: come for you for d.

493
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 16: Application in applications you know, to pub to work here

494
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 16: as dis factions and as officers.

495
00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,240
Speaker 1: So I share this story with these police officers that

496
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,799
Speaker 1: while I've been reporting here, I met a little boy

497
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 1: who told me that at one point he really wanted

498
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,000
Speaker 1: to be a police officer, but then he told me

499
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: the raids happened and that ice agents took his father away,

500
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: and that since then the little boy despises law enforcement

501
00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:25,840
Speaker 1: and would never want to become a cop. Officer. Jackson

502
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:31,280
Speaker 1: has a visceral reaction. So you're getting emotional what happened

503
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 1: two years ago.

504
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,280
Speaker 2: Ye, it's sad.

505
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 18: They're just trying to work and tried to Ye, and

506
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 18: they it shouldn't have been done in that matter. The

507
00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 18: blowback affects you just exactly the problem we have right now,

508
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:49,560
Speaker 18: the trust issue.

509
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 16: They think all officers, all law enforcement are bad and

510
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:55,400
Speaker 16: we're not.

511
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,919
Speaker 2: You love to help them, we just can't get them open.

512
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: But it's kind of like in the history of black

513
00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: white relations in this state, it almost feels like you're saying, well,

514
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: they got to do the work, they have to talk

515
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: to us, they have to trust us. And it's like

516
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:20,719
Speaker 1: you're telling the victims and how many times in the

517
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,520
Speaker 1: history of Mississippi where black people told in this state,

518
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 1: well you just need to trust us, Well, you just

519
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:28,000
Speaker 1: need to come forward.

520
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:29,480
Speaker 12: I get it.

521
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,160
Speaker 17: I guess I see yes as a maybe I don't

522
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,120
Speaker 17: know if they want to help, you know, but we're

523
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 17: always here to help.

524
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 2: Everything that occurred that day was political?

525
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 1: And what was the political message you think they were

526
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: trying to send on that day of the raid.

527
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 2: You don't want me to stay it. You don't want

528
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 2: to say it. You don't want to say it.

529
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:56,880
Speaker 1: Leaving the police department, I felt really frustrated. I hopped

530
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 1: into the car to meet back up with Lorena, the activist.

531
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 1: We were going to go to an area where several

532
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: of the poultry plant workers live, and it's the area

533
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 1: where some of the most recent crimes targeting Latinos and

534
00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 1: Latinas have taken place.

535
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:12,800
Speaker 12: So where are we?

536
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 6: Si trailer park is the famous Canton trailer park. Why

537
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 6: is it famous because if you look at the trailer

538
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 6: park of the homes, they look like they're falling apart.

539
00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 6: There's holes on the floors, the doors don't lock, the

540
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:30,560
Speaker 6: windows don't close.

541
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,839
Speaker 1: This is the trailer park where a forty one year

542
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: old man named Amelio Garcia Beetes was killed this past May.

543
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: It's also close to the house where Maudilia and Faustino

544
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:50,040
Speaker 1: were killed, the brother and sister. It's also walking distance

545
00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,359
Speaker 1: to the Pojerra, the chicken.

546
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:55,880
Speaker 6: Plant, and so this is where black people lived for

547
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 6: decades and then when we started coming in and the

548
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 6: last couple of say about ten twenty years we've been here,

549
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,800
Speaker 6: the immigrant community, I would say about ninety nine percent

550
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:10,640
Speaker 6: of the trailers should not be housing families or children.

551
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: I'm taking stock as I'm walking around this place. There's

552
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: a distinct smell. I can see bullet holes in some

553
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:24,640
Speaker 1: of the trailer homes. In others, they're standing water underneath them,

554
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 1: and you can see the mold.

555
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,800
Speaker 6: So you have that the pandemic, you have garbage, you

556
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 6: have dogs, you have people being attacked. The story that

557
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 6: undocumented folks carry thousands of dollars in their pockets, so

558
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 6: we're gonna you know, we're easy prey, so we're just

559
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,279
Speaker 6: gonna break in and get everything that they have.

560
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: She is speaking to the myth that some in the

561
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 1: non Latino community believe, which is that undocumented people keep

562
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 1: cash in their homes or carry a lot of it

563
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 1: around with them because they don't have access to bank accounts.

564
00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: And as we walk around, this is really hard to

565
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:08,080
Speaker 1: see people making their homes in these living conditions that

566
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: are so dire. These are the essential workers who helped

567
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:17,759
Speaker 1: feed my family, your family, an entire country during the

568
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: pandemic and to see them living under these conditions. Yeah,

569
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 1: it's hard. So people might ride by and say, wow,

570
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: that's really poor, poor, poor, but you're also saying, yes

571
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,839
Speaker 1: it is. But also there's a tremendous amount of love

572
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 1: and community.

573
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,840
Speaker 6: People feel like they belong to something. You know, a

574
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 6: lot of a lot of folks, you know how we are.

575
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,720
Speaker 6: We come in and we bring our tias, our family members,

576
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 6: and this is where kind of like a first stop,

577
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:44,359
Speaker 6: and some stay here.

578
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 4: Just stop the free holies.

579
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:51,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can smell the free holies. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

580
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,760
Speaker 1: I see a woman watering her little yard in front

581
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 1: of her trailer home. She smiles and waves at us.

582
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,160
Speaker 1: And then as Lorena and I walked through the park,

583
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: she tells me, look, yes, these are dire living conditions,

584
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:12,320
Speaker 1: but for this community, these are still homes and it

585
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 1: is still una comunivad, a community. Tonight, Lorena's organization is

586
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: hosting a vigil to remember the two year anniversary of

587
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: the Ice raids.

588
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:34,120
Speaker 6: Estos some quabos testantando lahelia, Yes primero.

589
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:38,320
Speaker 1: She tells. The crowd that's gathered here mostly Latinos and Latinas,

590
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,239
Speaker 1: some black folks and white folks and says that there

591
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,879
Speaker 1: are four towns having similar vigils at the same time,

592
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: and even though the crowd is small, Dorena is really

593
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 1: happy to see community members coming out and organizing. Then

594
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:56,280
Speaker 1: a man steps up to the microphone and Lorena begins

595
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 1: to translate.

596
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 2: In Spanish, thank you for having me.

597
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,320
Speaker 9: You know, so, I'm born and raised in Mississippi, and

598
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 9: it seems like we're always making history.

599
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,520
Speaker 6: Aciendosia delia.

600
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,320
Speaker 9: They said that our schools are are not the best

601
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:13,440
Speaker 9: in Mississippi, and.

602
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,839
Speaker 16: Mississippi they say that that we're the poorest, and now

603
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 16: they're saying that we have the largest raids in the

604
00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:24,759
Speaker 16: United States, and I like to say, you.

605
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 5: Know, we must do better.

606
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,799
Speaker 1: He says that the community and the country must hold

607
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: every administration accountable.

608
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,960
Speaker 6: We should not give Joe Biden a past. No, they

609
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:39,759
Speaker 6: have almost Joe Biden, just like we didn't give Trump

610
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 6: a pass Trump.

611
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,320
Speaker 12: So we need change and we need change now, miss.

612
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 2: Thank you.

613
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,920
Speaker 1: Lorena and other advocates are pushing and hoping that the

614
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 1: Biden administration will provide a pathway to citizenship immediately for

615
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,840
Speaker 1: essential workers, some thing the President said that he would support.

616
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,080
Speaker 1: When we come back we hear from two Watermalan families

617
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 1: who have planted their roots firmly in Mississippi and they

618
00:41:10,840 --> 00:42:02,480
Speaker 1: have no plans on leaving their homes as stay with us, Hey,

619
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:07,920
Speaker 1: we're back. We've been telling you about the racial history

620
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 1: behind chicken processing plants in the American South and how

621
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:16,800
Speaker 1: they exploit the most vulnerable workers. We also talked about

622
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,960
Speaker 1: recent crimes against Latinos and Latinas and another layer of

623
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:26,600
Speaker 1: fear that is rippling throughout the community. All right, let's

624
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: get back to the story. Wait, so are you just

625
00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:33,160
Speaker 1: starting the new year? How many days have you been

626
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 1: to school?

627
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:35,560
Speaker 19: I just started.

628
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:41,799
Speaker 1: This is eight year old Miko. Miko has a big

629
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:46,040
Speaker 1: smile on his face. He's kind of tipping back and forth,

630
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:51,359
Speaker 1: excited in his red school uniform. Then Susanna, Miko's mom,

631
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,239
Speaker 1: offers to take me inside her home. By the way,

632
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,719
Speaker 1: they asked us to change their names to protect them

633
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:02,719
Speaker 1: because of their immigration and status. Susanna is an indigenous

634
00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 1: woman from Whatatemala. She's lived in Mississippi for several years now.

635
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,479
Speaker 1: This is my first time meeting her. We just walked

636
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 1: in your front door and the first thing you see

637
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:19,280
Speaker 1: is a rug leading up to an altar. There's Jesus

638
00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 1: Christ and he's wrapped in traditional guan amelan reboso a shawl,

639
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:30,360
Speaker 1: and below it there's flowers, plastic flowers, and there's candles

640
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:37,800
Speaker 1: and it's quite beautiful. You refu indiosos.

641
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 20: It was.

642
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:55,720
Speaker 1: Repel after Ice picked up Susanna's husband during the raids

643
00:43:55,880 --> 00:44:00,360
Speaker 1: in the poultry plants. He was deported to Watemala. She

644
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: says she then had no one else to turn to

645
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: except God. She asked if the local church would allow

646
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:14,280
Speaker 1: her to take the statue of Jesus Christ, basically an altar,

647
00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 1: so that she could pray for her husband's return. Susanna

648
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,040
Speaker 1: is telling me that the statue actually is brought here

649
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 1: from Whatatemala and then it is shared in the community

650
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,239
Speaker 1: for people who are desperate. And she's telling me she

651
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,239
Speaker 1: was desperate when her husband was taken, but that she

652
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,799
Speaker 1: believes that her prayer and this altar helped bring him back.

653
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:37,799
Speaker 2: Okay sin Nay.

654
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 1: After being deported, her husband tried several times to cross

655
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 1: the border back to the United States to reunite with

656
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:51,799
Speaker 1: his family, but he was sent back to Mexico every

657
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 1: single time. On his third try, he finally made it

658
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 1: to Mississippi while her husband was away. Susanna tells me

659
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 1: that her children suffered a lot, especially Miko Mio, the

660
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 1: only eye. The little boy fell into a depression. He

661
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:18,600
Speaker 1: just stopped eating. Eventually she had to take him to

662
00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:19,640
Speaker 1: see a psychologist.

663
00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,239
Speaker 19: I was getting really worried about my dad, like not

664
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:24,719
Speaker 19: coming home anymore.

665
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:28,920
Speaker 1: That's a lot of emotion for a little, tiny body

666
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,160
Speaker 1: like yours. What do you do with all of those?

667
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 19: Mostly my heart hurted. I'm right here with the center

668
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 19: from my heart started hurting. The vaken disasters.

669
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 1: It feels like your heart was having disasters.

670
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:50,320
Speaker 19: I'm also the one that happened. I thought like it

671
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,240
Speaker 19: was like burning my heart.

672
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: During this time, Susanna also had to think about how

673
00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 1: to make ends meet. What did you do to find work?

674
00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:08,960
Speaker 2: Company?

675
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: So you went to work in a chicken plant in

676
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:19,440
Speaker 1: the middle of of Covide. Susanna was terrified, she says,

677
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:22,440
Speaker 1: when she had to go to work. Unlike Elena, who

678
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:26,759
Speaker 1: we heard from earlier, Susanna did not have work authorization.

679
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 1: Can you talk to me about the work that you

680
00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:34,840
Speaker 1: were doing on the line in the poultry plant, boys,

681
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 1: lad save Calpolari, I've interviewed a lot of people who

682
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:54,120
Speaker 1: have worked in poultry plants, but I've never seen anyone

683
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:58,760
Speaker 1: talk about it the way Susanna did. She was literally

684
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,280
Speaker 1: imitating the world work of the assembly line. Her hands

685
00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:06,000
Speaker 1: would start moving at this fast, repetitive rate, showing me

686
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:09,319
Speaker 1: what she had to do for eight straight hours at

687
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,759
Speaker 1: a time. It's been estimated that the average worker at

688
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:17,839
Speaker 1: these plants repeats these type of forceful motions while they cut, pull,

689
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 1: and slice more than twenty thousand times a day, all

690
00:47:22,960 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 1: while standing in the same spots. I was sitting at

691
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:33,880
Speaker 1: Los Pa. But you would cry while you were working

692
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 1: inside the chicken plant with a mask on it. How

693
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:42,160
Speaker 1: would you walk out the door, open that door, get

694
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:45,480
Speaker 1: in your car and drive to the chicken plant, knowing

695
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:59,880
Speaker 1: that there was COVID everywhere? Isn't muspetas? Then, the desperate

696
00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:03,919
Speaker 1: to fight for her family kept Susanna going. She says

697
00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:07,360
Speaker 1: she would ask God to please protect her from the virus.

698
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:11,840
Speaker 1: Her little boy, Miko, has asthma, and she was terrified

699
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:16,160
Speaker 1: of passing COVID to him. Susanna was also constantly worried

700
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:19,160
Speaker 1: that at any moment there could be another ice rate.

701
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:24,759
Speaker 1: And right then, as we're talking, the door opens and

702
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: Susanna's husband, and then walks through. Adan has just gotten

703
00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:34,960
Speaker 1: out of work. Now he has a job in construction

704
00:48:35,239 --> 00:48:44,560
Speaker 1: Boys Simplement. He helps remodel houses. Now, as he's settling

705
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:47,960
Speaker 1: in after a long day at work, being hugged on

706
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,800
Speaker 1: and kissed by his kids, I ask him if he

707
00:48:50,880 --> 00:49:07,279
Speaker 1: feels like Mississippi is his home, and Adan says, yes,

708
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,600
Speaker 1: this is his home because there's a lot of opportunity

709
00:49:10,680 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 1: for his family here and because his children were born

710
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,160
Speaker 1: in Mississippi. When you say that this country offers you

711
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:19,880
Speaker 1: so many opportunities, there's a part of me that just

712
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 1: thinks that this country has had the opportunity to detain you,

713
00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:33,120
Speaker 1: arrest you, jail you, deport you multiple times. And I'm like,

714
00:49:33,239 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: that doesn't sound like opportunity. That sounds like like a

715
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:41,360
Speaker 1: country that doesn't want you. So I'm trying to understand that.

716
00:49:43,320 --> 00:49:43,640
Speaker 2: The person.

717
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:01,040
Speaker 1: Adan says what happened the day of the raids was

718
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:06,879
Speaker 1: not okay. We were just there working. He also says

719
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:09,840
Speaker 1: that back in Watemala there are a lot of problems

720
00:50:10,239 --> 00:50:12,720
Speaker 1: and that he's better off here in the United States.

721
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:17,000
Speaker 1: Since Avan has returned home, Miko and his little sister

722
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:22,920
Speaker 1: have been much happier and healthier. So how how is

723
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:25,920
Speaker 1: your heart now like if it had disasters and burning

724
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 1: when your dad was gone?

725
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:31,840
Speaker 19: Feels like normal, better, feels like kiss fresh.

726
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:42,239
Speaker 1: When Nko talks about his heart, his mom and dad

727
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:46,879
Speaker 1: look at him from afar with this like extraordinary love

728
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,600
Speaker 1: in their eyes. He and his little sister have gone

729
00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:52,759
Speaker 1: through so much over the last few years, and they

730
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 1: constantly live with the cloud of deportation still hanging over

731
00:50:57,680 --> 00:51:11,440
Speaker 1: their family. I'm getting ready to leave Mississippi, but I

732
00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:16,279
Speaker 1: really want to meet Elena's daughters. I know that one

733
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:19,200
Speaker 1: of Elena's daughters is thirteen years old and that the

734
00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:23,000
Speaker 1: other one is fifteen. Both of them are US citizens.

735
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,480
Speaker 1: So I'm back at Elena's house now, and she offers

736
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 1: to take me inside. Now I'm fully vaccinated, so I

737
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 1: put on my mask and I stand at the door.

738
00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:41,400
Speaker 1: I can feel the cold air conditioning from inside hitting

739
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:48,279
Speaker 1: my sweaty face. Wow, Oh, Elena to Caste Preciosa. Wow,

740
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: she has a beautiful house.

741
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:50,640
Speaker 12: Oh my god.

742
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:54,959
Speaker 1: There's like a room with like Mexican blue on the wall.

743
00:51:55,200 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 1: She's got a fireplace, she's got a huge sofa. You know,

744
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:04,560
Speaker 1: it's coming together. And as I look around. Her two

745
00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:07,000
Speaker 1: daughters come out from their rooms and they put on

746
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:12,000
Speaker 1: their masks. What's up the both of your daughters?

747
00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:12,520
Speaker 10: Yes?

748
00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 1: How are you feeling good?

749
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:16,000
Speaker 18: Like?

750
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:21,600
Speaker 1: Your mom is not leaving Mississippi, so you're staying. So

751
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:22,520
Speaker 1: what's your big dream?

752
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:26,000
Speaker 12: My dream is to be a doctor?

753
00:52:26,719 --> 00:52:30,759
Speaker 1: Okay, why do you want to become a doctor, Because like, it.

754
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:33,000
Speaker 12: Would make my mom happy if I buy her a

755
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:35,520
Speaker 12: house and then she don't have to work anymore.

756
00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 1: And what's your big dream?

757
00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:39,600
Speaker 12: Become a criminal investigator?

758
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 1: Criminal investigator? You know there are a lot of unsolved

759
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:44,080
Speaker 1: crimes around here.

760
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:44,759
Speaker 10: You know that, right?

761
00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:49,800
Speaker 1: So you want to help? Yeah? Before I leave, is

762
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:51,440
Speaker 1: there anything you want to tell me about what it's

763
00:52:51,480 --> 00:52:54,400
Speaker 1: been like to see your mom go through the last

764
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,240
Speaker 1: two years since the raid.

765
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,359
Speaker 12: Ever since she found a way to craiming, she felt

766
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:05,799
Speaker 12: more happy because it's like when she was working Jacob place,

767
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:10,719
Speaker 12: she said, oh, it's not enough money. So basically I

768
00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:11,600
Speaker 12: think she's happy.

769
00:53:13,320 --> 00:53:17,200
Speaker 1: In many ways. Ilena is happy because she made her

770
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,800
Speaker 1: dream come true. She didn't want to work at the Pojerta,

771
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:24,879
Speaker 1: at the chicken plant anymore, and she's not. Now she's

772
00:53:24,960 --> 00:53:29,840
Speaker 1: painting things like houses, hotels, clinics and schools. She is

773
00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:33,080
Speaker 1: so proud of the work that she's doing. She walks

774
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:36,040
Speaker 1: me back to her car, pops open the hood and

775
00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:39,800
Speaker 1: shows me her work equipment. Okay, and she's got a

776
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:43,239
Speaker 1: little yellow safety vest. She's got her work boots. It's

777
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:49,359
Speaker 1: just to give in. So she's got workboots that were

778
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:52,160
Speaker 1: obviously gifted to her, which are probably like a size

779
00:53:52,239 --> 00:53:55,360
Speaker 1: ten men's but she still uses them sometimes because she

780
00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:04,240
Speaker 1: mas brochas Wow, a new paintbrush, guandom the toldos a spindura.

781
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:07,520
Speaker 5: Yenorg.

782
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:16,480
Speaker 1: Even though Mississippi has treated you and your family in

783
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,759
Speaker 1: a challenging way, you really love this place. You love

784
00:54:20,840 --> 00:54:22,920
Speaker 1: this community, and you love this house.

785
00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:24,720
Speaker 2: You love this yard.

786
00:54:24,920 --> 00:54:26,680
Speaker 1: You love this forest and these.

787
00:54:26,600 --> 00:54:39,879
Speaker 5: Trees Centola yodigo or bas thomas vim pores mahin.

788
00:54:43,840 --> 00:54:45,280
Speaker 3: In nose.

789
00:54:46,680 --> 00:54:52,360
Speaker 1: Look at force. Helena says she feels at peace in

790
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:55,399
Speaker 1: this moment because she has a roof over her head

791
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,880
Speaker 1: and that is the most important thing. She says, she

792
00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:03,640
Speaker 1: loves being here in Forest, Mississippi. She finally has a

793
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 1: sense of security, even if it's just for this moment.

794
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:14,400
Speaker 1: Right now, as I say goodbye to Elena, her family

795
00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:18,359
Speaker 1: and everyone, I met in Mississippi. I'm thinking so much

796
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:22,279
Speaker 1: about how they are now part of the future of Mississippi.

797
00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:27,000
Speaker 1: They're organizing, they're looking out for one another, they're dreaming

798
00:55:27,160 --> 00:55:29,600
Speaker 1: big and doing the best they can for their families.

799
00:55:30,440 --> 00:55:34,359
Speaker 1: And even though this state historically hasn't treated them well

800
00:55:34,719 --> 00:55:39,040
Speaker 1: and companies continue to exploit the most vulnerable, the people

801
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:45,719
Speaker 1: here are pushing through, demanding better and surviving. I think

802
00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 1: about Elena's two teenage daughters, about Miko, about Yesenya's kids,

803
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:56,880
Speaker 1: and I think about how one day these kids are

804
00:55:56,960 --> 00:56:00,320
Speaker 1: going to determine who's going to lead this country and

805
00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:04,920
Speaker 1: who's going to lead this state because their roots are

806
00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:10,520
Speaker 1: solidly right here in Mississippi, and those roots they're going

807
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:13,760
Speaker 1: to continue to grow. They're going to continue to get stronger,

808
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:22,839
Speaker 1: and the folks here they'll continue to rise. The week

809
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:25,520
Speaker 1: that our reporting on Mississippi was going to drop, the

810
00:56:25,640 --> 00:56:30,040
Speaker 1: Department of Homeland Security issued an unprecedented memo on October twelfth.

811
00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:33,959
Speaker 1: The memo calls on ICE to end mass work site

812
00:56:34,080 --> 00:56:38,840
Speaker 1: raids entirely, and to create new policies that encourage all workers,

813
00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:44,160
Speaker 1: even those who are undocumented, to report labor violations without

814
00:56:44,400 --> 00:56:55,880
Speaker 1: the fear of deportation. This episode of Our Continuing Journalism

815
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:59,360
Speaker 1: in Mississippi was reported by Me and Renaldo Leanos Junior,

816
00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:04,200
Speaker 1: was produced by Rinaldo and edited by Mitra Bonschahi. It

817
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:07,200
Speaker 1: was mixed by Julia Caruso. It was fact checked by

818
00:57:07,239 --> 00:57:11,759
Speaker 1: Ben Klin. The Latino USA team includes Mike Sargent, Juliata Martinelli,

819
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:17,400
Speaker 1: Victori Estrada, Patricia Sulbaran, Gini montalgo Alejandra Salasad and Julia Rocha,

820
00:57:17,640 --> 00:57:21,120
Speaker 1: with help from Raoul Perez. We're edited by Andrea Lopez

821
00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:25,800
Speaker 1: Crusado and Marta Martinez. Our editorial director is Julio Rivarella.

822
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:30,520
Speaker 1: Our supervising senior engineer is Stephanie Lebau. Additional engineering help

823
00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:34,320
Speaker 1: from Gabriel A. Biez and Jjkrubin. Our digital editor is

824
00:57:34,360 --> 00:57:37,960
Speaker 1: Louis Luna. Our New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow is

825
00:57:38,160 --> 00:57:41,520
Speaker 1: Mari es Kinka. Our Latino USA fellows are Monica Morales

826
00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:45,520
Speaker 1: Garcia and Elisa Vayena. Our Public Slab Fellow from the

827
00:57:45,640 --> 00:57:49,640
Speaker 1: CuNi Graduate Center is Andrew Vignalez. Our theme music was

828
00:57:49,680 --> 00:57:52,280
Speaker 1: composed by Sea Robinos. If you like the music you

829
00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:55,360
Speaker 1: heard on this episode, stop by Latinousa dot org and

830
00:57:55,440 --> 00:57:58,200
Speaker 1: check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host and

831
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 1: executive producer Maria jo Josa. Join us again on our

832
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:03,760
Speaker 1: next episode, and in the meantime, I'll see you on

833
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:06,800
Speaker 1: all of our social media I just watch them. Bye.

834
00:58:09,120 --> 00:58:13,200
Speaker 20: Latino USA is made possible in part by W. K.

835
00:58:13,520 --> 00:58:18,120
Speaker 20: Kellogg Foundation, a partner with communities where children come first,

836
00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:25,480
Speaker 20: the Heising Simons Foundation Unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities. More

837
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 20: at hsfoundation dot org and the John D. And Catherine T.

838
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:32,120
Speaker 20: MacArthur Foundation.

839
00:58:35,720 --> 00:58:46,120
Speaker 1: Yarner, Sachicha Well Ista Say Chica Estaingo Onbrigo Bing