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When the unprecedented immigration raids were over, only the children remained. Some sobbed inconsolably. “Let my parents be free,” one girl cried. “I need my dad. He’s not a criminal.” Others clutched backpacks on a first day of school they would probably never forget. The latest salvo in the Trump administration’s hardline stance against immigration came Wednesday at seven Mississippi food-processing plants. Immigration officials described it as the largest single-state workplace enforcement action in US history. (Sanchez, 8/8)

Mississippi residents rallied around terrified children left with no parents and migrants locked themselves in their homes for fear of being arrested Thursday, a day after the United States’ largest immigration raid in a decade. A total of 680 people were arrested in Wednesday’s raids, but more than 300 had been released by Thursday morning with notices to appear before immigration judges, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox. (Amy and Sollis, 8/8)

The operation was so closely guarded that ICE officials did not even inform the White House before it began, according to Matthew Albence, the agency’s acting director, and other administration officials. Because previous plans for high-profile ICE raids had been disrupted by public disclosure — including tweets from President Trump telegraphing them — the agency this time stealthily streamed 600 agents to Mississippi, many flown from other parts of the country. (Craig, Wilson and Miroff, 8/8)

A day after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested nearly 700 people in sweeping raids at several food-processing plants in Mississippi, officials said Thursday that nearly half of those detained had already been released. (Neuman, 8/9)