Jail Support for Immigrants Held in Missouri Offers Resistance in a Red State

"Herrera-Cruz, who is 25 years old, left Mexico to come to the United States to work with his brother for a roofing business in St. Louis. He was travelling in rural Missouri for a job when the trailer on his truck got a flat tire. Herrera-Cruz says a passerby stopped, began harassing him, and called the police. When local sheriff's deputies arrived, instead of helping with the flat tire, they arrested Herrera-Cruz."

"According to a Department of Justice press release, Herrera-Cruz was picked up on March 18, 2025, and charged with illegal reentry. He had previously been deported in March 2022 and made his way back to the country. He was arrested in Camden County, Missouri, best known for the Lake of the Ozarks, a scenic stretch of waterways surrounded by mountains. The press release says that Herrera-Cruz was arrested for not having a driver's license following a "single vehicle accident.""

"Central Missouri is a politically conservative territory in a deep red state. Missouri, which has a troubled history as a slave state before the Civil War, is the third state in the nation for executions, behind Texas and Oklahoma. In the 2024 election, Donald Trump won Missouri with 58 percent of the vote. The state governor and local officials have eagerly collaborated with federal immigration agents to carry out the new administration's mass deportation plans."

Fernando Herrera-Cruz has spent more than 200 days in a county jail in central Missouri on immigration charges. He left Mexico at age 25 to work with his brother for a roofing business in St. Louis. Herrera-Cruz was traveling in rural Missouri when his trailer got a flat tire; a passerby harassed him and called police, and sheriff's deputies arrested him instead of assisting. Authorities picked him up on March 18, 2025, and charged him with illegal reentry after a prior deportation in March 2022. He was arrested in Camden County reportedly for not having a driver's license following a single-vehicle accident. Jail conditions are described as very bad with allegations of racist guards. Missouri is politically conservative and has collaborated with federal immigration agents on mass deportation plans, while local community members are organizing to resist deportations.

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