U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday defended controversial mass raids that led to the arrest of 680 undocumented migrants in the southeastern U.S., saying they were an effective way to thwart illegal entry into the country.
The raids, which took place at seven chicken processing plants scattered across six Mississippi cities, were the largest in a single State in U.S. history.
“I want people to know if they’re coming into the U.S. illegally, they’re getting out,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “And this serves as a very good deterrent.” He added that when “people see what they saw (Wednesday), like they will see for a long time, they know that they’re not staying here.” Local media showed images of confused children crying after coming home from school and finding themselves with nowhere to go and nothing to eat after their parents had been detained.
Of the 680 detainees, 122 were from Mexico, a country with which the U.S. recently reached an agreement to help block Central American migrants from reaching U.S. soil. As a result, in July, there were 21% fewer arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border as compared to the previous month.
