Federal agents raided several companies across Mississippi on Wednesday, rounding up hundreds of immigrant workers in what federal officials said might be the largest worksite enforcement action ever in a single state... Three poultry plants that are owned and operated by Peco Foods in three towns, and a fourth run by Koch Foods, in Morton, Miss., were among the facilities raided... “We have officially returned to the era of massive worksite raids,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy organization. “The net result will be immigrant workers pushed further underground, families separated and local economies decimated."

... The poultry industry has long relied on immigrant labor to do the physically taxing work of cutting, cleaning, deboning and packing chicken in cold, sometimes dangerous conditions... In a statement, [Peco Foods]... said it had adhered to all local, state and federal laws and had used E-Verify to screen its new hires... “The chicken industry uses every tool in the toolbox, including E-Verify, to help ensure a legal work force,” Tom Super, a... spokesman [for Koch Foods], said. “And we’ve been strong advocates before Congress to make those tools even stronger.”