CANTON, Miss. (WLBT) - The devastation and trauma on this day six years ago still lingers in the minds of those who witnessed the chaotic events unfold.

“It was the first day of school. The children expected the parents to pick them up after school,” said Luis Espinoza, Lead Organizer of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. “The parents never showed up.”

That was the heartbreaking reality to be faced for thousands of children who never had the opportunity to share their first day of school experience with their parents.

“The children went home to find that their parents were gone. Some of those children never saw their parents again or didn’t see them for a long, long time,” L. Patricia Ice, Legal Project Director of MIRA, said.

A drive near the Peco Foods plant in Canton today

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