Ever since a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site swept up nearly 500 workers in southeast Georgia, Rosie Harrison said her organization’s phones have been ringing nonstop with panicked families in need of help.
She runs an apolitical non-profit called Grow Initiative that connects low-income families — immigrant and non-immigrant alike — with food, housing and educational resources.
Since the raid, Harrison said, “families are experiencing a new level of crisis.” A majority of the 475 people who were detained in the workplace raid — which U.S. officials have called the largest in two decades — were Korean and have returned to South Korea.
People off-site called the organization frantically seeking the whereabouts of loved ones who worked at the plant and were suddenly unreachable.
Some families who called the organization were left without access to transportation because the person who had been detained was the only one who could drive.
According to Rosie Harrison, her organization’s phones have been ringing nonstop with anxious families in need of assistance ever since a large-scale immigration raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site in southeast Georgia swept up nearly 500 workers.
“We have individuals returning calls every day, but the list doesn’t end,” Harrison said. She is the director of Grow Initiative, an apolitical non-profit that provides food, housing, and educational resources to low-income families, both immigrant and non-immigrant.
Harrison stated that “families are experiencing a new level of crisis” since the raid. “”.
Most of the 475 individuals arrested during the workplace raid — which U. A. called the biggest in 20 years—were Korean and went back to South Korea, according to officials. However, according to attorneys and social workers, a large number of the non-Korean immigrants caught up in the crackdown are still unaccounted for or in legal limbo.
The raid started on the morning of September. 4. Almost instantly, employees began contacting Migrant Equity Southeast, a nearby nonprofit that links immigrants to financial and legal assistance. Contacts about individuals from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Venezuela were handled by the tiny organization, which employs about 15 people, according to spokesperson Vanessa Contreras.
According to Contreras, throughout the day, witnesses reported that federal agents confiscated employees’ cellphones and placed them in lengthy lines. To avoid being caught, some employees spent hours hiding in the expansive property’s air ducts or other isolated spots. According to the Department of Justice, some took refuge in a nearby sewage pond.
People who were off-site called the organization in a panic to find out where loved ones who worked at the plant and were suddenly unavailable were.
Lawyers and advocates for the non-Korean workers caught up in the raid say that some of the people detained had legal permission to work in the United States, just like many of the Koreans who were employed at the plant.
Friday, emails seeking comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security were not answered. The number of people still in custody after being arrested during the raid is unknown.
Two of his clients were lawfully employed under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was established by former President Barack Obama, according to Atlanta-based lawyer Charles Kuck, who represents both Korean and non-Korean workers who were detained. He stated that one was still being held due to a recent charge of driving under the influence, while the other had been released and “should have never been arrested.”.
According to Kuck, one of his other clients was applying for asylum and shared the same employment and documentation as her husband, who was not arrested.
Rosario Palacios, who has been helping Migrant Equity Southeast, stated that some of them even had legitimate Georgia driver’s licenses, which aren’t available to those who are in the nation illegally. Since the detainee was the only driver, some families who contacted the organization were left without a means of transportation.
According to Palacios, “it’s difficult to say how they decided who they were going to release and who they were going to take into custody.” Some of the people who were arrested lacked an alien identification number and were still missing.
Notwithstanding claims that they are focusing on criminals, Kuck said the raid shows how extensive President Donald Trump’s administration’s crackdown is.
The issue here, according to Kuck, is the reinterpretation of the term “criminal” to encompass all non-citizens, including some citizens.
Numerous families who contacted Harrison’s initiative claimed that their detained relatives were the only providers for the family, leaving them in dire need of necessities like food and baby formula.
the effect on finances of the raid at the building site of a battery factory that HL-GA Battery Co. will run. was made worse by the addition of International Paper Co., another significant employer in the region. — will close at the end of the month, resulting in the layoff of an additional 800 employees, Harrison said.
While Harrison stated that Growth Initiative does not verify immigration status, nearly every family that contacted her stated that their detained loved ones were legally permitted to work in the United States, leaving many perplexed as to why their relative was initially placed under arrest.
“The worst phone calls are when kids are screaming and crying and asking, ‘Where is my mom?'” Harrison stated.
.
