WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.880 The last time I was in Mississippi. It was just 2 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:12.720 before the shutdown. It was February of twenty twenty. I've 3 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:15.880 just pulled into a driveway of a home in a 4 00:00:15.920 --> 00:00:20.680 small town called Forest, Mississippi. It's a town of around 5 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:23.880 five thy five hundred people. It's about an hour east 6 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:27.720 of Jackson, which is the capital of Mississippi. On this 7 00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:32.240 Saturday afternoon in early August of twenty twenty one, I'm 8 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.920 going to meet up with Elena, who I haven't seen 9 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:37.080 since I was last yere. Okay, let's go see. 10 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:37.599 Let's go. 11 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.600 When I first met Elena, it had been six months 12 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:47.280 since more than six hundred ICE officers had rated seven 13 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:51.640 chicken plants across the state of Mississippi. Close to seven 14 00:00:51.800 --> 00:00:57.200 hundred workers were taken by ICE that day in August 15 00:00:57.360 --> 00:01:01.400 of twenty nineteen, and among them was Elena. 16 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:04.720 The agents would surround the perimeter of the plant, then 17 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.679 move in. They would check for proof of residency from 18 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.440 the workers. Those without it were lined up by bus 19 00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:14.080 to an airport hangar for processing. Some will be arrested 20 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:16.440 for crimes, some will be deported immediately. 21 00:01:17.160 --> 00:01:20.560 I want people to know that if they come into 22 00:01:20.600 --> 00:01:24.360 the United States illegally, they're getting out. They're going to 23 00:01:24.440 --> 00:01:27.960 be brought out, and the terms as a very good deterrence. 24 00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:31.160 The last time I saw Elena as she was living 25 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:34.760 yards away from a factory that used to make food 26 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.200 for some of the chickens that would end up in 27 00:01:37.240 --> 00:01:41.920 the processing plants. During the pandemic. She was displaced from 28 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:47.680 there and had to move several times. But now she's 29 00:01:47.720 --> 00:01:53.520 living in a home that's overlooking this beautiful, expansive, lush 30 00:01:53.800 --> 00:02:02.880 green lawns. 31 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.280 Lesnias algueves. 32 00:02:16.200 --> 00:02:20.280 She tells me she recently contracted COVID. Right now, she 33 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.000 says she's no longer positive for the virus, but her 34 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:26.240 nine year old son has also tested positive, and now 35 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:29.600 her two teenage daughters are currently sick with COVID. She 36 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:37.959 says they're inside the house, just resting. Yesta. Elena says, 37 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:42.480 the virus is already here and everywhere, no matter how 38 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.160 much you try to protect yourself from it. Then she 39 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:57.440 points across her big yard to her neighbor's house. Her 40 00:02:57.440 --> 00:03:02.720 neighbor's daughter is intubated in the hospital with COVID. She's 41 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:06.480 fifteen years old and she's been in bed for about 42 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:11.880 a week now. This week also marks the two year 43 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:16.640 anniversary of the ice raids, so all of these images 44 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.880 and videos of that tragic day are being broadcast across 45 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.440 the news here locally. It's really painful for Elena to 46 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:26.760 have to relive that. Do you remember when I saw 47 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:30.120 you last and you said, I'm going to figure out 48 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.320 a way to survive? So case. 49 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:45.240 Yop momento. 50 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:56.600 The When Elena worked at the chicken plant, she says, 51 00:03:56.720 --> 00:04:00.400 she sometimes didn't have enough money to even and buy 52 00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:04.520 food for her own kids. But Elena doesn't plan on 53 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:07.480 going back to the chicken plant for a lot of reasons. 54 00:04:08.040 --> 00:04:10.000 One of them is because she still doesn't have the 55 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.880 right papers, and on top of that, she's also really 56 00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:15.520 worried there could be another ice. 57 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.719 Raid waritas Lamna de Miraso. 58 00:04:19.080 --> 00:04:22.039 She says, basically, her future is in the hands of 59 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:25.800 immigration agents. After the raids at the plants, she was 60 00:04:25.880 --> 00:04:28.160 taken and held for a day, so now she has 61 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.800 an ongoing immigration case. And Elena isn't alone. A lot 62 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:35.159 of people who were picked up during those raids are 63 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:37.760 in very similar situations. 64 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:50.560 Solo and Delius and yode Vengo la Vidados. 65 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:55.480 Watching Elena talk about that day, it's as if the 66 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:59.159 raids were like an earthquake that never stopped. Because right 67 00:04:59.200 --> 00:05:01.480 now she's thinking back to the day of the raids 68 00:05:01.520 --> 00:05:04.400 and she's asking herself what would have happened to her 69 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.400 children if she had been deported, And then she's like, 70 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:10.280 I would have been forced to go back to Watemala 71 00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:12.960 and take my teenagers to a country that I haven't 72 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.280 been to in fifteen years and that they don't know. 73 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:22.479 And Gambia Kipos, Navida, e Yo Bottom, Bucala, Maracomo, Mantenels. 74 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:27.240 But here in Mississippi, she's like, I'll be able to 75 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.800 find a way out. I mean, I'll lose everything maybe, 76 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:33.839 but I'm going to find a way out. And despite 77 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.880 all the risks that are involved in stain right here 78 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:40.880 in Mississippi, Elena and her family say that they're going 79 00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:52.200 to persist because Mississippi is their home. From Fudromedia and PRX, 80 00:05:52.440 --> 00:05:56.360 It's Latino Usa, I'm Maria no Josa. This week, two 81 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:00.279 years after the massive ice raids at chicken processing places 82 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:04.520 across the state, we return again to Mississippi in our 83 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.560 continuing reporting on the state. We're going to catch up 84 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.760 with people we met in last year's episode and this episode, 85 00:06:11.960 --> 00:06:14.160 we're going to look at the history of the poultry 86 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:18.159 industry in the South and how it stems back decades 87 00:06:18.320 --> 00:06:30.120 and continues to systematically oppress the most vulnerable. In August 88 00:06:30.440 --> 00:06:35.400 of twenty twenty, Latino USA aired after the Mississippi Raids. 89 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:39.120 I had traveled to Mississippi in February of twenty twenty 90 00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:43.000 to see how communities were coping several months after the 91 00:06:43.080 --> 00:06:46.880 ice raids, when most major news outlets had already moved 92 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:50.640 on from the story. And now I'm back in Mississippi, 93 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.440 where poultry is big business, and we're following up with 94 00:06:55.520 --> 00:06:58.080 some of the people that I met last year to 95 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:05.400 see what's changed here what hasn't. It's another boiling hot, 96 00:07:05.640 --> 00:07:10.440 humid day in central Mississippi, and I'm back standing in 97 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.400 front of that large chicken processing plant that I first 98 00:07:14.520 --> 00:07:18.680 visited in twenty twenty. This is one of the total 99 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.880 of fifty processing plants that are scattered across the state. 100 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:28.760 The poultry industry is actually the largest income producing agricultural 101 00:07:28.840 --> 00:07:32.400 commodity in the state of Mississippi, and it's been that 102 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:36.080 way for the past twenty one years. This one is 103 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:39.560 one of the ones that was raided by ice. A 104 00:07:39.880 --> 00:07:42.600 massive truck just pulled up yet that is probably going 105 00:07:42.640 --> 00:07:48.120 to get loaded with chickens. You might remember Lorena kiros 106 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:51.160 I met her when I arrived here last year in 107 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:55.760 twenty twenty. She's a community organizer. The raids motivated her 108 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.560 to basically create a nonprofit, the Immigrant Alliance for Justice 109 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:05.440 and Equity, in response to what happened this plant. Did 110 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:06.360 it ever close down? 111 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.720 Never? As a matter of fact, some of the people 112 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:11.960 that were caught at at the race, they're back in there, and. 113 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.360 She says she's heard about this from a lot of 114 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.000 people in the area. Okay, I need to know how 115 00:08:17.080 --> 00:08:17.600 that happens. 116 00:08:17.960 --> 00:08:20.040 They would just pretty much pretend that they didn't know 117 00:08:20.440 --> 00:08:22.480 that they were part of the race. They were invited 118 00:08:22.520 --> 00:08:25.720 to come reapply. They actually went out and recruited and 119 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:31.560 they would talk to people. Hey, sikonoc people would show up, 120 00:08:31.640 --> 00:08:34.000 they would know who it was. But if you gave 121 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.720 them a different ID, you will get hired. 122 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:39.200 Get Wait wait, wait, wait when did that happen? 123 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:39.520 When? 124 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.520 When as COVID started to hit Because people were getting 125 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:46.160 through right after we left, right after you left, So 126 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:50.120 you're saying that right after we left February of twenty twenty. 127 00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:54.840 It was six months after the raid, and it. 128 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:57.760 Was kind of like, no, things are not moving, they're 129 00:08:57.800 --> 00:09:00.840 asking for papers, and you're saying that then, and then 130 00:09:01.640 --> 00:09:06.040 they started saying to people recruiting actively in the community. 131 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:06.679 That's right, that's right. 132 00:09:07.040 --> 00:09:07.199 Now. 133 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.319 We were essential workers. Now, we were needed now when 134 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.920 people you know, were going home and we're getting sick 135 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:18.559 or didn't even want to come and get exposed, we 136 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:21.080 were asked to come in and take these jobs. 137 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.439 Lorena puts it this way succinctly. The workers went from 138 00:09:26.520 --> 00:09:32.000 being undocumented to then being essential overnight. How do you 139 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:32.640 feel about that? 140 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:35.679 I mean, you know that's bullshit, right, I mean, we've 141 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:40.760 always been essential. It's traumatic, it's deceitful, it's painful, especially 142 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:45.480 with the hateful words coming out of the last president, 143 00:09:45.640 --> 00:09:48.679 right of all these horrible things of what we are, 144 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.080 and then COVID hits and we become essential. 145 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:56.000 Yes, Lorena is deeply upset about all of this, but 146 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.920 she's decided to use her anger instead to organize because 147 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.679 she worries that things could get bad once again at 148 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:04.800 these processing plants. 149 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.120 They're not going to have enough people working and they're 150 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:08.719 going to come back and get us. Oh, we need you, 151 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:10.880 we want you to come back. We're going to pay 152 00:10:10.920 --> 00:10:14.120 you a quarter more, come on back. And it's a 153 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:14.920 vicious cycle. 154 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.720 Lorena points out this vicious cycle that became clear during 155 00:10:18.760 --> 00:10:22.880 the pandemic. First there was a necessity to feed the country. 156 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:26.400 Then the workers who were doing this got sick and 157 00:10:26.520 --> 00:10:29.280 they had to leave the plants. So the companies began 158 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:34.600 recruiting undocumented workers, doing that even after the raids had 159 00:10:34.640 --> 00:10:38.640 taken place. What does the recruiting look like now after 160 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:39.120 the raid? 161 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:44.640 So they have contractors, they're really slick. The actual management 162 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:48.680 contracts whatever company it is, and it changes every three 163 00:10:48.760 --> 00:10:53.599 to six months. These contractors are sometimes community people and 164 00:10:53.800 --> 00:10:56.280 they recruit the people from the community. 165 00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:59.959 Laudna says she doesn't remember this happening back in February two, 166 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.400 twenty twenty, after the raids had taken place. 167 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.360 So, as a matter of fact, one of our organizers 168 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:08.679 she went and she asked for her job. Bag said, hey, 169 00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:10.880 you know, my husband was deported and they were like, 170 00:11:10.920 --> 00:11:14.400 you're not welcome here. She cried, she was humiliated. Several 171 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:16.480 of our people did that, and they were going to 172 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:19.079 these places and begging for work, and they were like no, 173 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.040 get the hell out of here COVID hits, and I 174 00:11:22.160 --> 00:11:22.440 mean it. 175 00:11:22.520 --> 00:11:25.440 Was just a one to eighty. We spoke to several 176 00:11:25.520 --> 00:11:29.199 people in central Mississippi and they told us similar stories 177 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:34.400 about poetry factories initially being reluctant to hire undocumented workers 178 00:11:34.760 --> 00:11:38.560 because of the raids, but when the pandemic hit, as 179 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.679 lord Na tells us, there was a labor shortage, and 180 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:45.199 then she says, these factories resorted to third party labor 181 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:46.520 contracting companies. 182 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:52.280 It's a very common labor practice to try to outsource 183 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:55.880 the accountability of the hiring of undocumented people and to 184 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:59.280 be able to pay them less than they're playing direct 185 00:11:59.360 --> 00:11:59.880 hire worker. 186 00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:04.839 This is Angela stc. She's the author of Scratching Out 187 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.920 a Living Latinos, Race and Work in the Deep South. 188 00:12:09.520 --> 00:12:13.360 Angela researched poultry factories in Mississippi, and she says the 189 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:17.280 chicken plants have been turning to contracting companies for decades. 190 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:23.280 Oftentimes the owners of these third party labor contractors are 191 00:12:24.160 --> 00:12:29.120 immigrants themselves, typically have papers, can speak English right, and 192 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:33.160 have the cultural and economic capital to set up these companies. 193 00:12:33.520 --> 00:12:36.480 When she was living in Mississippi, she saw firsthand how 194 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:37.040 this worked. 195 00:12:37.400 --> 00:12:40.520 It seems very rare that corporations are ever actually held 196 00:12:40.640 --> 00:12:45.480 accountable for hiring undocumented people. And when they are, you know, 197 00:12:45.520 --> 00:12:50.000 the punishments are really pretty minor financial, you know, finds 198 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:52.040 that don't really impact the company. 199 00:12:57.080 --> 00:13:00.560 It was clear that since I last left Mississippi, these 200 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:05.959 companies still needed and were depending on undocumented workers to 201 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:11.119 staff their plans. We reached out to several chicken processing 202 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.360 plants in the area, but we only heard back from one, 203 00:13:14.920 --> 00:13:19.280 Pico Foods. Piko Foods said in a statement that since 204 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.959 two thousand and eight, they use the Everify program to 205 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:28.080 screen new hires. They also said that they routinely audit 206 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.760 internal hiring practices and mandate that third party contractors comply 207 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:37.920 with all local, state, and federal immigration and employment laws. 208 00:13:41.040 --> 00:13:43.160 When we come back, we're going to dive into the 209 00:13:43.280 --> 00:13:46.520 racial history of the poultry industry in the South and 210 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:50.280 how these companies are looking for the most exploitable workforce 211 00:13:50.760 --> 00:13:55.439 in order to earn the greatest profit. And then we 212 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:59.800 hear about an ugly turn of events, a new fear 213 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.600 that's rising among those in the Latino and Latino community here. 214 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:59.600 Stay with us, Hey, we're back before the break. We 215 00:14:59.680 --> 00:15:03.480 heard of contracting companies that were working on behalf of 216 00:15:03.560 --> 00:15:08.200 the poultry plants and hiring undocumented workers. Some of the 217 00:15:08.280 --> 00:15:11.600 plants are even hiring the same workers who had been 218 00:15:11.640 --> 00:15:15.360 taken away by ice during the raids in twenty nineteen. 219 00:15:16.640 --> 00:15:20.960 To really understand how a once fledgling poultry industry became 220 00:15:21.040 --> 00:15:25.120 a nearly fifty billion dollar powerhouse that it is today, 221 00:15:25.760 --> 00:15:28.280 we need to look back at the racial history of 222 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:32.640 chicken processing plants in the South. All right, we're going 223 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:38.520 to go back to the story now. Three months after 224 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.320 the Ice raids, a hearing was held by the House 225 00:15:41.400 --> 00:15:46.239 Subcommittee on Homeland Security at Tugaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. 226 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:50.080 Toogaloo was at the center of the civil rights movement 227 00:15:50.160 --> 00:15:54.000 in Mississippi and helped set the stage for activism that 228 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.440 changed the direction of our country. 229 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.840 That's Benny Thompson. He's the chairman of the committee and 230 00:16:00.040 --> 00:16:03.120 he represents Mississippi's second congressional district. 231 00:16:03.560 --> 00:16:06.520 The college is a fitting venue for the Committee on 232 00:16:06.560 --> 00:16:10.640 Homeland Security to meet today to examine the recent immigration 233 00:16:10.880 --> 00:16:15.720 raids and their effect on Mississippi families, children, and communities. 234 00:16:16.680 --> 00:16:19.360 One of the people at the hearing was Jerry Miles. 235 00:16:19.880 --> 00:16:22.600 He was the special Agent in charge of the New 236 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:27.760 Orleans Field office for ICE. A congressman from Texas questioned 237 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.080 Miles at the hearing. 238 00:16:29.680 --> 00:16:34.320 You indicated that you wanted to take away the economic incentives, 239 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:38.600 and you do that by coming in and taking the 240 00:16:38.800 --> 00:16:42.600 undocumented persons, have them do a purp walk, show some 241 00:16:42.760 --> 00:16:46.960 of that on television, and then you can somehow deter persons. 242 00:16:47.400 --> 00:16:50.840 But you don't have a purp walk for the employers. 243 00:16:51.280 --> 00:16:55.600 They don't get arrested. You're still investigating them. Is it 244 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:59.760 true that there are no employers incarcerated. 245 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:00.560 It is true. 246 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.520 There are no employees incarcerated, and this happened months ago. 247 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:05.080 That is true. 248 00:17:06.080 --> 00:17:10.080 As of today, at least four low level managers at 249 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:14.719 two chicken processing plants have been indicted for allegedly hiring 250 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:19.760 undocumented workers. No top executives have been indicted. We reached 251 00:17:19.800 --> 00:17:22.359 out to ICE and to the Department of Justice to 252 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.880 follow up on any updates, but we didn't hear back. 253 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:31.359 Constance Slaughter Harvey is a respected civil rights leader in 254 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.480 the community here in Mississippi. She was also at the 255 00:17:34.560 --> 00:17:37.879 Homeland Security hearing. She was asked a question by Congressman 256 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:43.679 Steve Cohen of Tennessee that referenced a song named Mississippi Goddamn, 257 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:45.000 you don't have to. 258 00:17:45.160 --> 00:17:50.120 Live next to me. Just give me my polity, then 259 00:17:50.320 --> 00:17:51.399 we body. 260 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:04.480 And not that. 261 00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:08.920 The song is by Nina Simone. It was written during 262 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:13.440 the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties. Here's Congressman 263 00:18:13.560 --> 00:18:15.080 Cohen with his question. 264 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.240 Judge laughter Harvey, is that connection with the old Mississippi 265 00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:22.080 that Nina Simone sang of similar to what we have 266 00:18:22.280 --> 00:18:26.640 with immigrants? That there are efforts by in this state 267 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.840 that are antagonistic towards people of color. 268 00:18:30.560 --> 00:18:34.320 I would say that, if not the same, maybe a 269 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:39.359 little worse. I can identify with the disrespect and the 270 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.520 inhumanity because I was treated in a similar way, but 271 00:18:43.760 --> 00:18:47.679 not nearly as bad. I knew my rights as an 272 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:53.520 American citizen. These individuals don't know their rights. I could fight, 273 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:55.119 they can't. 274 00:18:56.119 --> 00:18:59.280 She told Let you Know USA that the images she 275 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:03.120 saw on the day of the raids brought back memories 276 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:07.600 from decades ago. To know that a law enforcement officer 277 00:19:07.840 --> 00:19:08.520 would throw. 278 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.440 A woman down, or a man or a child down, 279 00:19:12.040 --> 00:19:14.280 handcuffed them and put a gun to their head. That's 280 00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:17.560 reminiscent of what happened to black people doing the movement 281 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:21.600 to see Hispanics just round it. 282 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:25.639 Up like animals and put on a bus. 283 00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:28.320 I had a flashbad. 284 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:34.639 And I became very angry. We have not made that 285 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:39.960 much change in official racism, not just in Mississippi but. 286 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:44.680 In this country. An advocates say there hasn't been much 287 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:48.040 change in the way that the poultry industry across the 288 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:52.919 South exploits and relies on the most vulnerable workforce. 289 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.560 The poultry industry really first began jelling as an industry 290 00:20:00.800 --> 00:20:03.920 into something of a factory setting around World War Two. 291 00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:08.880 That's Angelus DC again. She's the author of Scratching Out 292 00:20:09.080 --> 00:20:09.760 a Living. 293 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:12.639 And at that time many men were involved in the 294 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:15.720 war effort, and it was largely women and white women 295 00:20:16.040 --> 00:20:18.600 who were recruited to work in those plants. 296 00:20:19.240 --> 00:20:23.720 In Mississippi, these plants were staffed for decades by white 297 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.320 working class women up until the Civil Rights movement. 298 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:31.840 Once black folks in Mississippi had gained voting rights and 299 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:35.440 civil rights, their attention turned to economic justice right, and 300 00:20:35.800 --> 00:20:39.639 they were also tired of working in the fields and 301 00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:43.639 in domestic work, and saw work in chicken plants and 302 00:20:43.760 --> 00:20:46.280 other factory settings as really a step up. 303 00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:51.200 In the nineteen sixties, black workers began organizing for access 304 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:52.240 to these jobs. 305 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:56.880 It wasn't until the late sixties or even early seventies 306 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:59.840 that the black workers gained entrance into the chicken plants. 307 00:21:00.280 --> 00:21:02.600 Angela says it was a matter of weeks before the 308 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:07.040 plants went from being mostly manned by white women to 309 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:10.040 becoming an exclusively black workforce. 310 00:21:10.520 --> 00:21:12.560 What they thought was going to be a racial integration 311 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:16.000 of the plants really became a racial or ethnic succession 312 00:21:16.320 --> 00:21:19.400 in the chicken plants, and the plants turned almost exclusively 313 00:21:19.520 --> 00:21:20.960 to black men and women. 314 00:21:21.560 --> 00:21:24.680 After working in the plants and seeing the grueling environment 315 00:21:24.760 --> 00:21:28.920 they faced, black workers began organizing for better wages and 316 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.760 working conditions during the nineteen seventies, but Angela says it 317 00:21:32.840 --> 00:21:37.080 took some time until they would see any actual gains, and. 318 00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:40.359 It was in the mid nineties when the chicken plants 319 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.639 were facing the reality that they were going to have 320 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:46.920 to negotiate with unions and with their workers, that they 321 00:21:47.320 --> 00:21:50.280 had the idea to turn to immigrant labor. 322 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:56.359 So companies started heavily recruiting immigrant Latino and Latina workers 323 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:57.760 from Florida and Texas. 324 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:00.520 The story is not complete unless we all also think 325 00:22:00.520 --> 00:22:03.359 about the ways in which bringing in this workforce was 326 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.800 an effort to keep black workers in their places. In 327 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:07.639 the chicken plants. 328 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:12.040 Angela goes on to say that these industries strategically located 329 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:14.880 themselves in the South because. 330 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:17.680 Wages were low and land was cheap, and they could 331 00:22:17.760 --> 00:22:21.159 get people to grow chickens and to slaughter chickens at 332 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:26.639 low cost. The South also as pretty poor legislation when 333 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.919 it comes to protecting workers' rights. Many of the states 334 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:32.680 in the South are right to work states, so it 335 00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:36.040 makes unionizing more difficult. So these are all incentives for 336 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:38.560 the industry to locate in Mississippi. 337 00:22:41.320 --> 00:22:45.800 According to the Economic Policy Institute, it's estimated that there 338 00:22:45.840 --> 00:22:50.680 are almost five hundred thousand workers in the animal slaughtering 339 00:22:50.760 --> 00:22:55.879 and processing industry. Of those workers, nearly thirty five percent 340 00:22:56.280 --> 00:23:02.480 or Latino, with seventy percent of those non citizens. That 341 00:23:02.600 --> 00:23:06.840 amounts to nearly a quarter of this industry being staffed 342 00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:12.400 by immigrants. Yessenye is one of those workers in this category. 343 00:23:13.600 --> 00:23:17.239 She's also undocumented and from Mexico, and we met her 344 00:23:17.600 --> 00:23:20.439 on my first trip here to Mississippi. She and her 345 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.119 partner had been picked up by Ice during the raids. 346 00:23:24.040 --> 00:23:27.320 Back then, Yasenya was six months pregnant and so she 347 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:31.439 was eventually released, but her partner was detained for almost 348 00:23:31.880 --> 00:23:35.960 nine months. With his absence, Yesenya had to figure out 349 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:39.280 how to provide for her family, and so she returned 350 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:51.359 to the chicken processing plant for work. With a big smile, 351 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:54.560 Ysenya opens the door and leads me into her home. 352 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.640 This is a different place from the last time. It's 353 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:01.000 a lot bigger. Her eight years old daughter sits on 354 00:24:01.080 --> 00:24:03.960 a stool in the kitchen eating dinner. What are you eating? 355 00:24:04.520 --> 00:24:05.120 What's for dinner? 356 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:05.760 Spaghetti? 357 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:13.320 Spaghetti and what? And today was the little girl's first 358 00:24:13.600 --> 00:24:17.520 day of school. Then yes and Y's husband appears and 359 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:19.600 says that he's on his way to work with some 360 00:24:19.760 --> 00:24:27.680 local folks. When I last saw him, he had literally 361 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:32.320 just been released from an Ice detention center, and well, 362 00:24:32.760 --> 00:24:37.639 he looked pretty traumatized. Now he tells me that he 363 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:40.920 wants to go back to work at the chicken processing plants. 364 00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:44.000 Why are you going to go back to work at 365 00:24:44.040 --> 00:24:54.040 a place where there was a raid? He has work 366 00:24:54.080 --> 00:24:58.280 authorization now, so he says he'd feel more at ease 367 00:24:58.400 --> 00:24:59.320 working at the plants. 368 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:00.080 How did you get. 369 00:25:06.080 --> 00:25:09.240 He has an attorney who's working with him, and he 370 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:13.160 was able to get work authorization while his immigration case 371 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:16.120 is unfolding. Wow, I don't know when was the last 372 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.240 time I saw one of these. It's like an ID card, 373 00:25:19.320 --> 00:25:24.920 an official ID card, you know, with a USA in 374 00:25:25.080 --> 00:25:29.800 blasm seal and it says the United States of America 375 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:34.439 Employment Authorization and it has his name and it's valid 376 00:25:34.520 --> 00:25:36.639 for one year. So then what then you have to 377 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:42.800 go back and apply. He has to renew this work 378 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:47.400 permit every year. Yesenya also has a kind of work 379 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:51.960 authorization while her immigration case is pending as well. It's 380 00:25:52.040 --> 00:25:56.000 only temporary, so she still worries about her future. For now, 381 00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:58.200 she has to find a way to feed her family 382 00:25:58.280 --> 00:25:59.120 during the pandemic. 383 00:26:00.040 --> 00:26:11.679 Seal Principo normal Rojacon for Pandemia APE American Bajoo. 384 00:26:10.560 --> 00:26:14.000 Yes, Senja says. At the beginning of the pandemic, the 385 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:19.280 working conditions at the plant were okay, but then people 386 00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:23.120 started to not show up to work. When you say 387 00:26:23.280 --> 00:26:26.320 that the only people who ended up working during the 388 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:34.000 pandemic were Latino people, what exactly do you mean American 389 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:49.920 a pandemia, Yes, says a lot of people say that 390 00:26:50.119 --> 00:26:54.200 Latinos and immigrants are taking jobs away from workers, but 391 00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:57.320 during the pandemic, they were at the forefront doing the 392 00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:01.680 kind of essential work that others would do. Do you 393 00:27:01.800 --> 00:27:06.440 feel like your work is being appreciated at that level, 394 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:09.680 like an essential worker who helped keep us off fed 395 00:27:09.800 --> 00:27:17.720 during the pandemic, Nomo. These mixed signals to workers have 396 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.760 long been at the root of American agriculture and its 397 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:26.240 labor policy. And Yesenya is now dealing with that. Yes, 398 00:27:26.320 --> 00:27:29.600 Senya understands that she can still be deported at any moment. 399 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.600 Even so, this is not Yasenya's biggest concern right now. 400 00:27:35.280 --> 00:27:39.000 I was surprised by this because in fact, she's worried 401 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:42.720