- We have chains.
They're invisible, but we have chains.
We know, if we drive, we risk every moment.
I feel like it's an invisible jail.
That's how I feel.
- For Mynor, and the many undocumented immigrants
that live in Gainesville, Georgia,
just leaving home can be a risk.
With no driver's license and scared
to come into contact with the county sheriff,
they try to keep a low profile on the streets.
The undocumented immigrants that appear in this video
all requested to remain anonymous.
They spoke to The Post on the condition
that we not use their real names.
- Line busy. Line busy.
- The workday's first challenge is to find a ride.
In Gainesville, workers flock
to the town's many poultry factories.
- Finally. - It's a risky line of work.
One of the town's main plants suffered two
chemical leaks this year.
The first killed six people.
- We never know what's going to happen.
It could happen to anybody,
an accident or somebody doing the wrong job.
- The sheriff's office in Hall County, Georgia,
is part of a US Immigration
and Customs Enforcement program called 287(g).
The program, which is voluntary for local jurisdictions,
empowers local law enforcement to act as federal agents
and question, report, and detain undocumented immigrants.
More than 140 state and local law enforcement agencies
participate in 287(g).
ICE hails the program as an essential partnership
to capture and remove violent criminals,
but the program has drawn the ire of many immigrant-defenders,
who believe that it not only encourages
discriminatory policing,
but also results in higher arrest rates
of lower-level offenders,
including those stopped for traffic violations.
A Post analysis of FBI data found that, in Hall County,
alone, arrest rates for low-level offenses
more than doubled from 2017 to 2019.
The data does not distinguish whether those arrested
were undocumented immigrants.
- 287(g) program, in recent years,
particularly in the Trump era,
was used as a tool to terrorize immigrant communities,
to make people fearful of simply doing day-to-day things,
like going to work, just driving,
things that we all take for granted on a daily basis.
If you're a noncitizen and you've heard
that your local law enforcement jurisdiction
is working with ICE,
it just makes sense that you would be less likely
to call the police, if and when you need them,
and that's something that harms all of us.
- In a written statement to The Washington Post,
the Hall County Sheriff's Department maintained
that their collaboration with federal authorities
is free of racial profiling, calling 287(g)
"a useful method to help keep our community safe".
But, for workers like Mynor, the reality is far more grim.
- It's just scary, about the sheriff.
I've seen people at work pray when they get in the car.
There's this guy that works at my place.
He's in his sixties and wants to get retired.
He's nice to everybody.
Sometimes I'm still waiting outside on the bench for my cab
and I see him because I can see his truck.
He's praying on the wheel
because he knows he doesn't have his license.
- Martha, an undocumented factory worker,
has lived in Hall County for 15 years.
- It's a horrible fear when you go out in the street.
Two years ago, I was pulled over.
It was very sad and very painful.
They asked for my license.
I said I didn't have one.
And then they said they were going to take me.
And so I didn't say anything.
I just nodded my head and felt sad.
A million thoughts ran through my head.
All I could do was ask God
to give me the strength to endure what was coming.
They detained me for three days.
I thought they were going to deport me.
I got out because my children were born here
and because I'd never been detained or arrested.
I had a good record, which worked in my favor.
- It's pretty tough to be Hispanic people in Gainesville.
It's really tough.
- Paco is a documented immigrant from Mexico
and a father of eight American children.
As a taxi driver, he serves his community
by getting them safely to work and to their homes.
I [indistinct] take to this place, look.
And it's not right for people to live
in this condition, like this right here.
Most of the people, they just want an opportunity to work.
Like this chicken plant right here,
they work seven days, sometimes, in the pandemic
and that's all Hispanic people working in there.
When COVID hit, they're still coming in.
All these factories, there's a lot of people
we drop off and we pick up people.
I see how people, single mothers or mothers with family,
they go and they pay the taxi $20,
$30, just to go to work.
- The dangers for Gainesville's undocumented
stretch far beyond the streets.
In January, an accident at one of the city's
main poultry plants
sent a shock wave of fear through the community.
- [crying] It's horrible to drive past the plant.
You drive by and see the crosses with flowers
and then turn to see the cemetery where they are.
- Gloria, an undocumented worker,
was at the plant when the leak happened.
She, along with the other survivors,
was too afraid to seek medical help
or assist in the investigation
because of the reputation of law enforcement in the county.
- The nitrogen leak happened on January 28, 2021.
The day was sad, frightening.
Everybody was crying.
Some were fainting.
We didn't know what was happening.
They just said, "They died.
They're frozen".
We all ran outside.
Then lots of cops and firemen arrived.
We were surrounded. It was horrible.
Because of our situation, we get scared when we see the police.
We learned from the news.
They said there was a leak.
- The deathly liquid nitrogen
leak at a food plant in Gainesville.
- Six people were killed and some of those victims
were among the more than 40% of Hispanics
that make up that community.
- Dozens of victims left the scene Thursday
without receiving medical care, due to fears of being deported.
- These are good people.
These are really hardworking people.
We had to come over here, now,
because we want to come over here.
We come over here because we got a need.
To eat, to have a better life.
- If you could drive freely, what would your life be like?
- My life would be different.
I could go wherever I wanted.
I would go to Florida, Chicago, wherever I wanted.
Unfortunately, that is not possible.
We have to stay here.