Lawmakers grill ICE official on family separations after Mississippi immigration raids

BY CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ
NOVEMBER 7, 2019 / 7:06 PM / CBS NEWS

Washington — Three months after immigration authorities carried out a massive roundup of nearly 700 undocumented workers at food processing plants in Mississippi, lawmakers grilled one of the officials who oversaw the operation over the decision not to warn local stakeholders, the lack of enforcement actions against employers and the separations of children from immigrant parents who remain detained.

Pressed by four Democratic lawmakers during a House Homeland Security Committee field hearing in Tougaloo, Mississippi, on Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agent in charge Jere Miles said the agency doesn't know how many children remain separated from parents who were apprehended during the sprawling operation in early August.

"Do you realize how indicting that answer is?" Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee asked Miles, who faced fierce questioning throughout the hearing.

In the hours and days following the operation targeting seven workplaces across six different Mississippi cities, hundreds of those apprehended were released to continue their immigration proceedings outside detention — but many were not. Miles said he did not know how many of the 680 workers initially apprehended remain in detention.

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