Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. Hi! My name is Mukta Joshi and I’m an investigative reporter with Mississippi Today. For nearly two years, I’ve been writing about police misconduct and the power of sheriffs in our state. Now, as I start a yea rlong fellowship program at the New York Times, I’m shifting my focus to a topic that’s been making headlines across the country, though less so here at home: the detention of immigrants picked up by ICE.  ICE raids have been taking place at an unprecedented scale in big cities all over, including in the South. Texas and Louisiana famously house more ICE detainees than any other states.  But did you know that Mississippi plays a special part in immigration enforcement?  Despite having one of the smallest immigrant populations, Mississippi is home to the second largest ICE detention facility in the entire country – the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, which houses more than 2,000 detainees.  The federal government limits access to ICE detention centers. They aren’t inspected as often as state prisons. Only immediate family members and attorneys are allowed to visit detainees. And because the Adams County facility is owned and run by a private, for-profit company, CoreCivic, it isn’t covered by public records laws, and taxpayers don’t get to see what happens inside. Over the next couple of months, we’re going to find out everything we can about the facility, from who is held there to how it impacts the local economy.  We’d like to invite you along. Every Friday morning, I plan to publish something about my reporting – what I’m learning about how the facility works, about the people held there or about the impact the detention center has on the community surrounding it. You’ll be able to find it on Mississippi Today’s website, on our social media channels and in our Friday newsletter. And you can follow me on X @mukta_jo. I’ll start posting on March 27. In the meantime, if you know something about the detention center, if you know someone who works there or is detained there, or want me to find out something about it for readers, please get in touch. I will not use your name or any part of your submission without contacting you first. If you prefer to get in touch with me anonymously, send me a message on Signal @mmj.2178. Or you can contact me via email at [email protected].  Our mailing address is PO Box 12267, Jackson, MS 39236. ...read more read less