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Cattle farmers worry ICE raid will cripple farming economy

The April 5 ICE raid at Southeastern Provision detained 97 people.

GRAINGER COUNTY, TENN. — When you take a drive through the farms of Grainger County, chances are good you will see more cattle than people.

Following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the Southeastern Provision slaughterhouse, cattle farmers now worry the economy in the are could be affected.

"When you lose the only slaughterhouse in this big, big area, that's huge," said David Mitchell, a lifelong cattle farmer. "The only other choice is to take them to a stockyard somewhere and they'll have to sell them and they'll deliver wherever somebody buys them."

Mitchell sold his cattle all over East Tennessee before he retired in 2011.

He has not done business with Southeastern Provision in years. Still, he worries the April 5 ICE raid may hurt the farming business for farmers who did sell their cattle to Southeastern Provision.

While Mitchell says there are dozens of slaughterhouses in the region that can process a small number of cattle each day, there is nothing anywhere near the size of Southeastern Provision that is anywhere close.

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With Southeastern Provision not operating at full capacity, farmers are forced to ship their cattle farther away or sell them at stockyards for discounted prices.

The ICE raid also took away a major source of labor.

People worked for as little as $6 an hour at the slaughterhouse. ICE detained 97 people in the raid, taking away the workers who kept the business going.

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"That's the only people you find to work. That kind of work, the immigrants are the ones that do it," Mitchell said. "Now if there are criminals up there, take them away. But let the people work to get this job done."

The mayor of Grainger County says Southeastern Provision is currently operating at around 10% capacity.

It's not yet known what the future of the business will be.

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