Years ago, before I embarked on a career in journalism, I worked as a corrosion inspector on interstate pipelines.
The job brought me to a weird town called Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
The town, less than an hour down Interstate 30 from Hot Springs, is home to a Baptist college, is alcohol-free and stiflingly conservative.
But strange things are happening in a town called Arkadelphia.
A year ago, the INS came to town and rounded up about 100 residents -- illegal immigrants at a local chicken processing plant.
The response from this conservative town deep in the Bible belt was rather eye-opening, as the Los Angeles Times reports (not online yet):
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- The immigration agents arrived at the Petit Jean Poultry plant just before the 7:30 breakfast break, armed and dressed in khaki uniforms. They went straight to the room where more than 100 Mexican workers in tan smocks were cutting up chicken, then shouted in Spanish for everyone to freeze.
Some workers started crying. A few made quick cell phone calls, alerting relatives to care for children who would soon be left behind. The plant manager watched as 119 workers -- half his day shift -- were bound with plastic handcuffs and taken to a detention center, from which most would be deported to Mexico.
Immigration officials said they were cracking down on document fraud and illegal hiring. But what happened after the raid last July came as a surprise to many people in this conservative, Bible-belt region: Instead of feeling reassured that immigration laws were being enforced, many felt that their community had been disrupted.
The Petit Jean workers had come to be more than low-wage poultry processors. They were church friends, schoolmates and competitors in the local softball league. And so some residents responded to the raid by helping workers fight deportation, driving them to court and writing to lawmakers for help. Others donated money, food and clothing to the families of workers detained or sent back to Mexico.
Sunday, one year after agents arrived at the poultry plant, the Petit Jean crackdown shows how the effects of an immigration raid can reach far beyond the illegal workers and businesses involved. Many residents say they feel more sympathetic to undocumented workers and angry at the government.
The bipartisan nature of the anger is interesting as well:
The government's critics range from prominent Arkadelphia citizens to Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee and Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln. Even officials charged with enforcing the law in Arkadelphia have criticized the raid for removing people who belonged to their community.
``We take them into our public schools. We accept them into our churches. They play on our football, soccer teams,'' said Troy Tucker, the county sheriff at the time of the raid. ``And then one day Immigration comes in and sweeps them all away.''
The anger in this part of Arkansas comes amid new efforts by federal authorities to enforce laws against hiring illegal workers. There have been 2,100 people arrested in workplace raids so far during fiscal year 2006, up from 1,145 in 2005 and 845 in 2004.
The crackdown at Petit Jean also raises questions about the effectiveness of immigration raids. According to two community leaders, about 60 percent of the deported Petit Jean workers have returned to southwest Arkansas and are working again.
Frankly, I find it heartening that many Arkadelphians have supported those caught in the INS roundup.
If Arkadelphians can show such compassion, perhaps there is hope. Now, about that ban on alcohol ...