CLOSE TIRRC co-director Stephanie Teatro talks about the demonstration against deportation held at Carson-Newman Brianna Paciorka, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Buy Photo Family and friends of undocumented workers arrested in last month's ICE raid at the Southeastern Provision meat-packing plant in Bean Station, Tenn., demonstrate against immigration crackdowns and the Tennessee Legislature's passage of HB2315 at Carson-Newman University in Johnson City on Friday, May 4, 2018. (Photo: Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel )Buy Photo

JEFFERSON CITY - Guadulupe Campos wants the governor to know what it's like to live under threat of deportation.

The 18-year-old Morristown native holds U.S. citizenship. Her mother, a Mexican immigrant arrested in last month's federal raid on a slaughterhouse in neighboring Grainger County, doesn't.

Now Campos, her sister and two brothers - all U.S. citizens - wonder how much longer their family can stay together.

"I honestly don't know if my family has a future in this state," she said. "I'm the first generation in my family to go to college. I want to be a police officer. My mother's been here 20 years. She just wanted a better life."

Greeting the governor

Campos and about 20 other family members and friends of the nearly 100 people swept up in last month's bust gathered Friday morning on the Carson-Newman University campus to 'greet' Gov. Bill Haslam, the keynote speaker at Carson-Newman's spring graduation ceremony. They sang, chanted and waved signs to protest the raid, which authorities have called the largest roundup by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a decade, and to call on the governor to veto a bill recently passed by the Legislature that would ban sanctuary cities in Tennessee.

Buy Photo Gov. Bill Haslam smiles as the American flag waves behind him during the announcement of Belgian bus company Van Hool building a factory in Morristown, Tenn. and creating more than 600 jobs, Thursday, April 12, 2018. (Photo: Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel)

Campos and others said they've asked repeatedly for a meeting with the governor but gotten no response.

"Since he wouldn't come to us, we came to him," she said. "I hope he hears us. If this bill becomes law, I don't know if I'll be able to graduate. I would have to take care of my siblings. More families will be separated."

If Haslam saw or heard the demonstration, it was from a distance. The crowd left without the meeting they'd hoped for, and a batch of letters written by children of those detained to the governor went undelivered.

The letters bore drawings of families with such messages as "We are all one" and "See through our eyes."

Largest raid in a decade

The raid happened April 5 when agents detained 97 workers at the Southeastern Provision meatpacking plant on Helton Road in Bean Station, Tenn. Of those detained, more than 50 remain held in a federal detention center in Louisiana under threat of deportation, said Stephanie Teatro, co-director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Southeastern Provision, a cattle slaughterhouse in Bean Station, Tennessee, was the target of a federal immigration raid that rounded up 97 people on Thursday, April 5, 2018. (Photo: Travis Dorman / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

Another 10 face federal charges of defying previous deportation orders.

"We've been working with the Southern Poverty Law Center to make sure everyone involved gets quality counsel and a fair day in court," Teatro said. "Some people have retained private attorneys."

Campos said she'd just left class at Walters State University when someone at the plant called to say her mother had been picked up. The mother has since been released on bond but still faces deportation proceedings.

"She can't work right now, so it's been really hard for us," Campos said. "All these years she was here, she never committed any crimes. They weren't hurting anybody. They were just working."

Buy Photo Family and friends of undocumented workers arrested in last month's ICE raid at the Southeastern Provision meat-packing plant in Bean Station, Tenn., demonstrate against immigration crackdowns and the Tennessee Legislature's passage of HB2315 at Carson-Newman University in Johnson City on Friday, May 4, 2018. (Photo: Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel )

Juanita Farias said agents picked up her cousin, a native of Mexico, even though he had a work visa. Authorities ultimately released him, but not before family members went through hours of panic that's spread throughout East Tennessee's immigrant community.

"I work at a clinic in Parrotsville (in Cocke County), and for the first week after the raid people were calling to cancel appointments," she said. "They were afraid. Children stayed home from school. I'm afraid. I'm a citizen, but I can't always carry all my documents with me. I have three children."

The raid resulted from an IRS probe into whether the plant's owners, James and Pamela Brantley, ducked years of payroll taxes, according to court records. The owners haven't been charged.

Teatro said the workers shouldn't suffer as a result.

"All these people have families," she said. ""They were trying to provide for their kids."

James Brantley is the owner of a Grainger County slaughterhouse, Southeastern Provision, that was targeted in a federal immigration raid. Brantley is pictured sitting in his pickup truck outside the plant on Monday, April 9, 2018. (Photo: Travis Dorman / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

Voices for veto

Buy Photo Family and friends of undocumented workers arrested in last month's ICE raid at the Southeastern Provision meat-packing plant in Bean Station, Tenn., demonstrate against immigration crackdowns and the Tennessee Legislature's passage of HB2315 at Carson-Newman University in Johnson City on Friday, May 4, 2018. (Photo: Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel )

The sanctuary cities bill has drawn nationwide criticism. Advocates say the measure would simply add teeth to existing state law and encourage local authorities to cooperate with ICE. Opponents have called it unconstitutional.

"People will be afraid to call police," Farias said. "It won't just affect Hispanic families. It's going to affect everybody in Tennessee. If your neighbor is afraid to call the police, it won't make you any safer."

Haslam could either sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. The governor has said he'll consider the bill from all sides. Even if he vetoes the bill, the Legislature could override his decision by a two-thirds vote.

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