Those driving by Congressman Bennie Thompson's gray cinder-block office on Medgar Evers Boulevard Saturday morning would have spotted a small group gathered beneath the office's sign.

The group of about 40 people included day laborers, immigrant youth and immigration activists from across central Mississippi from Morton, Utica, Carthage, Canton, Ridgeland and Jackson, demanding attention from state and federal officials.

Led by leaders from the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, a nonprofit formed in 2019 to educate, empower and organize immigrant communities in Mississippi, the group demanded not only respect at the workplace and in the community, but also a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and Thompson.

Lorena Quiroz, executive director of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, said since the 2019 raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigrants have been terrified.

In August 2019, hundreds of immigration officials descended on seven Mississippi plants in the largest immigration sting of that kind in more than a decade. A total of 680 people were arrested, with more than 300 people detained in an ICE facility in Louisiana.

"People still continue to endure abuses in poultry plants and other places of employment were they're treated as less than because they're undocumented," Quiroz said. "So what we want is for deferred action, and it's something that can be done or can be influenced by Congressman Thompson."

Deferred action would be a protection for workers who file grievances against employers, Quiroz said.

The organization, Quiroz said, is working with a national campaign and other states to have Mayorkas grant people who were affected by the raids, suffered grievances and were sexually harassed to get deferred action until the cases are resolved.

After a brief warm-up in front of the Congressman's office, the group began their trek down Medgar Evers Boulevard to Woodrow Wilson Avenue heading towards the office of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, 510 George St.

The 3-mile long march included stops for people to step forward and share their stories of workplace abuse, discrimination, wage theft and the impact of the raids.

Standing in front of Thompson's Jackson office, Anai detailed her own experiences of abuse and harassment from supervisors at her work for being an undocumented worker, Quiroz translated for Anai.

Anai described how she has had supervisors who would tell immigrant workers the hospital wasn't an option for them if they got hurt while working.

Instead, if Anai cut her finger, the supervisors would give her a Band-Aid and say that is all she could get because she is undocumented, she said.

"Many of us, because we're not able to find other jobs or because we fear deportation, stay there," Anai said. "And we remain here, just enduring what has been done to us. There's no respect. There's no equality like the folks that are from here, because we're undocumented. We want respect. We want working papers. We want equity."

Manuela Castro, who came from Guatemala and has lived in Canton for 16 years, said she's witnessed the discrimination and abuse some workers face from authorities for not having documents.

One instance Castro shared with the crowd was about a friend who has yet to be paid for a week's worth of work she did some time ago, Castro explained.

The friend has called her boss several times asking for her check, but instead, she has been threatened to have the police or immigration services called on her.

"It is time for President Biden to answer what he promised," Castro said. We need respect and papers so we won't be oppressed. We are human beings, not animals."

Castro said it is clear how resilient the community has been to continue working through the COVID-19 pandemic to provide residents in the state with food from the poultry plants.

"We are the ones that bring that food to your table," she said.

Castro hopes the march and her words can be heard by Biden, Mayorkas and Thompson. She added she hopes Thompson will take responsibility for not responding to the group's efforts of meeting with him, even canceling one meeting 30 minutes before its scheduled time.

"What we need is respect and permits."