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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Arkansas Factory Raid Disrupts Communities, Immigrant Advocates Say

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Monday, September 17, 2018   

ALMA, Ark. – Several families in Arkansas this week are living without loved who face charges of immigration violations after a raid in a factory in Alma.

At least 28 people were taken into custody, but the women were later released.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement served the warrant on the Bryant Preserving Company based on an undisclosed criminal investigation.

Humberto Marquez, organizing director of Arkansas United, an immigrant advocacy group, says it's left several families with a large gap.

"The men are still currently detained and they were taken to the Washington County Jail,” Marquez explains. “A lot of those men are fathers, are husbands."

Currently, the detainees are only suspected of having an illegal immigration status. Earlier this year, ICE faced criticism for separating children from their parents, which Marquez says may be part of the reason why women were released.

Bryant Preserving has insisted in public statements that it is not part of an investigation.

The company says it uses E-Verify in its hiring process, which is intended to ensure that employees have a legal status.

Marquez says the raid has left a community shaken and uncertain, regardless of the company's level of involvement.

"There's plenty of people who are citizens who perhaps wouldn't be directly affected by this, but somehow it still implements fear because there's friends, neighbors, who might not have a stable status," he states.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Arkansas declined to comment on the raid. Similar raids have taken place in Tennessee and Ohio over the last year.


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