Immigrant drop off in MS resolved

Personnel at a Natchez, Miss., bus station was overwhelmed with more than 90 immigrants, most of which didn’t speak English, over a three-day period this week. The immigrants had been previously detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and ordered released. Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and the other officials – including Concordia Parish (La.) Sheriff David Hedrick - began making phone calls to find out who deposited the immigrants in Natchez. Within a few hours, they had an answer. Hedrick tracked the detainees to the River Correctional Facility in Ferriday, La., a private facility. It appears they looked at a map and found the nearest bus station, according to the mayor. “There was no fight, no struggle, no scuffle. They just couldn’t communicate,” he says. They weren’t just Spanish-speaking immigrants. The detainees “could not have been nicer to work with,” the mayor says. Protocols were put into place and everyone was on buses or vans, mainly to Alexandria, La., or New Orleans. “What could have been a very bad day ended up being a good day,” he says, but was critical of how the immigrants were released, saying every human deserves respect. (Source: Natchez Democrat 07/17/21) Mississippi bus station overwhelmed after ICE drops off more than 90 immigrants - Magnolia State Live | Magnolia State Live