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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Nearly 100 Immigrants Arrested in Rural Tennessee

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 97 immigrants late Thursday at a factory in a rural Tennessee county in what is said to be the largest workplace raid in a decade.

(CN) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 97 immigrants late Thursday at a factory in a rural Tennessee county in what is said to be the largest workplace raid in a decade.

An ICE spokeswoman told the Washington Post that 10 people were arrested on federal charges, one person on state charges and 86 were detained for being in the country illegally.

The raid took place at the Southeastern Provision meat-packing plant in Grainger County.

The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, or TIRRC, said in a statement Friday that it was the largest workplace immigration raid so far under the Trump administration.

The group noted that workers reported rough treatment and children were left without their caretakers. Some local churches have taken dozens of children in.

TIRRC Co-Executive Director Stephanie Teatro said thatcommunities have lived under intense fear since the Trump administration began” and Thursday’s raid “will send shockwaves across the country.”

“The community has shown tremendous strength in the face of this brazen attack on its members: Churches have become sanctuaries for those who feel unsafe, community leaders are speaking out against the attack, and we will continue to fight for basic, constitutional rights for all,” Teatro said in a statement. “No one – not even the president – can take those away.”

The National Immigration Law Center said the raid was the largest since the George W. Bush administration, according to the Post.

Thirty-two people were reportedly released after being detained.

The Tennessee raid comes three months after ICE agents descended on about 100 7-Eleven stores in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

Categories / Criminal, National

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