Immigration official: Those arrested in Mississippi shouldn't have been hired by company

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – One day after the largest federal immigration raid in more than a decade led to the arrest of 680 people, a top official with ICE defended the massive operation, saying the owner of food processing plants in Mississippi should not have hired the employees.

"That company hired people that should not – they should not have hired," Enrique Lucero, assistant field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Thursday as part of a panel discussion on immigration and border security at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual conference in Nashville.

"They don't have authorization to work in the United States. They don't have authorization to be in the United States."

It was not immediately clear which of the five food processing plants raided Wednesday Lucero was referencing.

Lucero's comments came after he fielded a question from Mississippi state Rep. Thomas Reynolds, a Democrat, during an at-times fiery discussion at the annual gathering of the group that represents state lawmakers from around the country.

Reynolds said many people arrested Wednesday had children who were U.S. citizens and he encouraged ICE officials to work with churches and others to help provide assistance.

"We have American citizens, that are little children, that are suffering," he said.

Lucero said while ICE works with non-governmental agencies every day, they also immediately try to determine if anyone arrested in raids has children so they can be quickly released to provide for their family.

"There is stories out in the media, based on that operation yesterday, that that may not have occurred in some scenarios," he said. Dozens of immigrant workers have been released since the raids, according to The Associated Press.

Reynolds was one of a handful of state lawmakers who pressed Lucero, Carl Landrum, a deputy assistant director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Victor De Leon, branch chief of the intergovernmental affairs Office of the Commissioner of the Border Patrol, on everything from the latest ICE raids to detention centers.

Rep. Joanne Ferrary, a New Mexico Democrat, said current policies seem to be designed to inflict trauma on children crossing the nation's southern border.

"We've seen where children are in cages," she said. "They're on the floor, they have aluminum blankets."

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When Ferrary asked Lucero how ICE could justify such policies, he deflected the question.

"The scenario as you explained would never happen in ICE custody. It sounds like Border Patrol custody, so I'll let Carl take that one," leading some in the room to laugh, including Lucero.

Ferrary interjected, "I'm sorry it's not funny. This is a serious matter."

Landrum agreed with Ferrary and explained that the Border Patrol is required by law to identify if a child is with a parent or legal guardian and that facilities are meant to be short-term holding spaces.

Landrum said because of the influx of people who have been detained, which he said totaled 66,000 this year alone, the facilities have struggled. "It's a very dynamic situation," he said.

When Arkansas Rep. Megan Godfrey, also a Democrat, asked the panel what legislators across the country can do, Lucero said lawmakers can talk to immigration officials in their communities to get the facts.

"Just in this room already we've heard some kind of stereotypes of what ICE is or what we think of Border Patrol holding areas," he said, briefly interrupted by Godfrey.

"And what we think immigrants are," she said.

When the panel fielded a question about the family separation policy under President Donald Trump, the query was deferred to the administration.

Although the panel faced several critical questions and statements, others praised and thanked the officials for their work.

Follow Joel Ebert on Twitter: @joelebert29.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mississippi ICE raid: Workers shouldn't have been hired, official says