After ICE Raids, a Reckoning in Mississippi’s Chicken Country

She knew it was going to be difficult. “The president doesn’t want us here,” she said. But she said she harbored no ill will toward the people who have taken jobs like hers. “I’m not mad.”

More than one-third of the 680 arrested workers across Mississippi were picked up at the Koch plant in Morton. In an affidavit taken a few weeks after the raid, Robert H. Elrod, a vice president of human resources, said 272 of the 1,170 employees there were Hispanic.

Marquese Parks, who works for a staffing agency that helped Koch Foods find new employees after the raids, said applicants included “a lot of African-American, a lot of white, Caucasian. Latinos, not so much.”

He said potential hires were being subjected to strict identification checks.

Mr. Parks, who is black and grew up in Morton, said he never wanted to work in the chicken plants. He went away to college but later found himself in the industry anyway, first as a poultry supervisor and now at the staffing agency. He said he did not know how long the new non-Hispanic recruits would last on the job.

“I honestly don’t think they will stay because of the simple fact that the jobs are that hard,” said Mr. Parks, 28. “It’s something they didn’t see themselves doing growing up. Something they don’t want to do.”

But the opportunity to earn more than $11 an hour can still turn heads in this part of Mississippi. Mr. Grant was not the only person to jump at the chance the raids provided. Niah Hill, manager of the Sonic Drive-In in Morton, said 10 of her workers quit soon after the raid at Koch Foods.

“When they heard about the raids they all went over there and got jobs right away,” Ms. Hill said. Carhops at this Sonic make $4.25 an hour — three dollars less than the state’s minimum wage — plus tips, she said.