OurTupelo

Mukta Joshi is an investigative reporter at Mississippi Today. She is spending a year as a New York Times Local Investigations fellow examining immigration and criminal justice issues. She can be reached at mukta.joshi@nytimes.com.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday vacated a decision made earlier this month, which had required U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to provide bond hearings within 90 days to immigrants arrested within the country. 

A panel of three judges from the conservative court, which covers Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, had held July 2 that unjustified detention for an indefinite period would violate the Constitution. The decision on Monday came after ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials appealed that judgment, petitioning the full appeals court to rehear the case. The court will consider the case in September. 

More than 61,000 immigrants held across the U.S. have petitioned federal courts for their release after ICE stopped providing bond hearings to those it arrested within the country, which was the norm for decades. Only two federal appeals courts – the 5th Circuit and the 8th Circuit, which covers Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota – have upheld the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy. 

More than 600 of the habeas corpus petitions are from detainees held in Mississippi, nearly all of which are sitting on the desk of Judge David Bramlette III. He has yet to decide any of these petitions based on their merits. As a result, hundreds of detainees have been held indefinitely, some for more than a year.

Monday’s decision will effectively keep them in limbo. 

Over two days, the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Regulation Task Force heard from 19 speakers on the potential impact of data centers in the state. 

The goal was to listen to a variety of people and to gather facts on some of the biggest issues being raised around data centers, such as power bills, water usage and jobs. The task force is expected to make recommendations to the Legislature before next year’s regular session.

“We worked to bring everyone to the table today. From the companies building these facilities to the agencies that regulate them to our utility providers, local elected officials, economic developers and citizens who have concerns,” said Rep. Jill Ford, a Republican from Madison and one of the task force co-chairs. “So we can hear every perspective before making recommendations.” 

The Legislature created the task force during its 2025 session to study AI usage and regulation in the state. Task force members include representatives from the attorney general’s office, Department of Information Technology Services, the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network and industry. 

Power companies address concerns over rate hikes

Mississippians and people across the country have raised concerns about the impact of data centers on neighborhoods, electricity prices and local water systems and rates. 

Representatives from various companies, including Entergy Mississippi and Amazon Web Services, challenged claims that data centers would hike utility costs or deplete water levels. They said they are paying for their infrastructure needs and that the build-out will not raise rates for or negatively impact residential rate payers. 

“Despite what others are asserting, customer rates today, residential rates, are actually lower than they would have been if AWS was not a customer of Entergy Mississippi,” said Jeremy Vanderloo, vice president of business operations and strategy at Entergy.

Vanderloo said that the contracts Entergy has with AWS include a minimum bill, a contract term and termination provisions to protect existing customers from incurring costs if the large customer walks away. 

Time and time again, speakers said they have a lot of trust in the Public Service Commission and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which regulate utility rates and some aspects of data center development. However, in the case of Amazon, some of the PSC and other oversight was waived by lawmakers in 2024.

Speakers: Let local governments regulate

Most speakers coming before the committee emphasized the importance of local control over development and cautioned the Legislature against excessive state regulation.

“Communities know how to handle those issues and they can do it right if they’re allowed to do it,” said Vanderloo. 

“I think the best support the state can offer communities is in areas where we ultimately cannot regulate, said Clinton Mayor Will Purdie. “Most of these issues, as I said, are profoundly local issues best addressed at the community level.”

“When it comes to the issues of noise and the local issues of that nature, those are local matters that should stay local,” said Bill Cork, the executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. “Lauderdale County and Madison County and places like that ought to decide for themselves what they want in their community.”

Regulation of behind-the-meter power generation emerged as one area for future legislation. Behind-the-meter generation is when a company creates its own energy and never hits the public utility system. SpaceXAI is already doing this in Southaven and a Jackson developer recently proposed a plan to generate power for industrial tenants.

“This is not a criticism of a particular company, but when a data center is off the grid or behind the grid, there’s no opportunity for that data center to help lower rates,” Vanderloo said. 

“There’s some gaps and some grey areas in the current law related to behind-the-meter power that eventually this Legislature is going to have to grapple with,” Cork said.

A call for more accountability

Shannon Samsa, the executive director of the Safe and Sound coalition and a Southaven resident, was the only person testifying who said they live close to one of Mississippi’s data centers. Rep. Ford said that the task force had reached out to 10 groups, but only Samsa showed up to talk to the committee. 

Samsa and other Southaven residents live close to SpaceXAI’s data center and private power plant where the company is running over 50 mobile turbines. The turbines are the subject of several ongoing lawsuits.

For almost a year, Southaven residents have voiced concerns about the noise, air pollution and lack of transparency surrounding the project. Some residents can hear noise from the turbines at all times of day, even from inside their homes.

“This isn’t about being for or against AI. It never was. It’s about whether the people of Mississippi deserve transparency, accountability and leaders who will protect the health and well-being of our families and communities before the interests of a private corporation,” Samsa said. 

Mississippi law requires someone running for district attorney to live within the counties they would serve, but Gov. Tate Reeves’ appointment of a white Madison County attorney to temporarily oversee the top prosecutorial office in Black-majority Hinds County is coming under scrutiny.

Some local attorneys raised questions when the governor picked Brad McCullouch, an assistant district attorney in Hinds County since 2023, to replace the county’s elected district attorney, Jody Owens, who resigned after pleading guilty in June in a federal bribery case.

McCullouch, a white man who ran for district attorney as a Republican in Texas in 2012, will oversee the office until a Nov. 3 special election. In the next few months, McCullouch is poised to indict hundreds of felony cases in a county that hasn’t had a white top prosecutor since 2001.

On his weekend radio show, Jackson defense attorney Shaun Yurtkuran wondered if McCullouch can legally lead the office because of a state law specifying district attorneys “possess all the qualifications of county officers,” which is generally taken to include being a resident of the county. 

Joe Hemleben, an appellate attorney who previously worked for the Hinds DA’s office, told Mississippi Today he was considering challenging the validity of any indictments secured under McCullouch’s tenure. But it remains to be seen if anyone will legally challenge McCullouch’s appointment. 

The optics of the selection of a white prosecutor to lead the district attorney’s office in Hinds County has not gone unnoticed. The Republican-run state government has a history of taking over local, Democratic-led law enforcement, said Matt Steffey, a Mississippi Christian University School of Law professor.

“It doesn’t seem like an appointment crafted to please the voters in Hinds County,” Steffey said, noting that McCullouch is the first white man to serve in the position since Ed Peters resigned in 2001. 

McCullouch has already publicly said he won’t run for election. In recent years, Republican governors have had middling electoral success with their appointees in heavily Democratic Hinds County. 

State law gives the governor power to fill a district attorney’s office in the event of a death or resignation. But the law does not specifically say if the governor must appoint a resident within the electoral jurisdiction. 

In an email, Reeves’ press secretary Shelby Wilcher wrote the governor’s office was aware that McCullouch did not live in Hinds County at the time of his appointment. Wilcher added the statute empowering the governor to make an emergency appointment does not “place any eligibility requirements or other limitations on the Governor’s discretion.” 

McCullouch did not respond to an inquiry from Mississippi Today. He already faces challenges in restoring trust in prosecutions undertaken by the office, where DAs have been embroiled in legal scandals going back to the 2000s.

Owens was indicted on federal corruption charges in the fall of 2024 for allegedly taking bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as real estate developers seeking to invest in downtown Jackson. Last month, he pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge. 

Because he won’t be running to permanently fill the post, McCullouch said in federal court last week, he would be free to make politically unpopular decisions.

“I’m in such a unique position because I don’t have to run for district attorney,” McCullouch told U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves on Friday during a hearing regarding overcrowding and other problems at the county jail.

The attorney general’s office has yet to opine on whether an appointed district attorney must meet the qualifications of an elected district attorney. But the office has weighed in on comparable scenarios, writing that when an elected superintendent vacates the post, the board of supervisors must pick an appointee who meets the same qualifications. The office has issued similar opinions on vacancies of a municipal utility commissioner and a county prosecuting attorney. 

When there is a vacancy of a circuit court judge or a school board member, the attorney general’s office has held that state law is clear: The appointee must be a resident. 

Wilcher wrote that because some state laws specify that an appointee must be a resident, the Legislature would have done the same for the statute giving the governor the power to appoint an emergency district attorney. 

“However, the Legislature chose wisely to not impose any such limitations,” she wrote. 

Jim Kitchens, a former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice, said he thinks the matter is not settled law because the statute that gives the governor the power to appoint a district attorney in the event of a vacancy does not specifically state whether the appointee must reside in the district. 

Plus, attorney general opinions are not binding. 

“While they may be helpful in many instances, they are mere opinions, not law,” he said. 

Kitchens, a former district attorney, recalled times in decades past when he stepped in for colleagues in other parts of the state who faced personal matters or had to recuse themselves. Kitchens temporarily served in their stead under a different state law that gives a senior circuit court judge the power to appoint a temporary DA. 

To challenge the governor’s appointment, a Hinds County resident would have to file a lawsuit. Kitchens said he believed it was unlikely such an effort would yield a ruling before the Nov. 3 election. 

In 2023, Reeves appointed local attorney Pieter Teeuwissen to fill a Hinds County Court vacancy following the death of LaRita Cooper-Stokes, a longtime judge and wife of Ward 3 Council Member Kenny Stokes. Teeuwissen did not win the election. 

In 2018, Gov. Phil Bryant appointed attorney Joseph Sclafani to serve as a Hinds County Circuit Court judge. 

Faye Peterson, a former Hinds DA, defeated Sclafani, who subsequently became a policy advisor to Reeves in early 2019, according to his LinkedIn.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has ordered the Legislature to convene on Wednesday for a special session to reform Mississippi’s youth court system after lawmakers failed to act during their regular session months ago.

Reeves made the announcement in a social media post on Tuesday afternoon, exactly 24 hours before lawmakers are to return to Jackson. The special session is necessary because statutes relating to youth court expired on June 30. Reeves said lawmakers have reached a deal to “create a far better system,” indicating they will be passing some reform measures and that they are prepared to pass the measure quickly.

“The agreed upon solution (as proposed and agreed by House and Senate leadership) sets up a far better system for both kids who are abused and neglected, as well as those children facing delinquency proceedings,” Reeves said. “For the first time, children and families will have access to full-time judges and moves us toward a uniform youth court system statewide.”

Reeves did not offer additional details on the apparent agreement, but he said he was optimistic that both Republicans and Democrats would support the legislation.

But in a joint statement, Democratic leaders in both chambers said Democratic members have “neither seen nor been meaningfully engaged in negotiating,” and some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers said they know little about the agreement.

“The constituents we represent do not expect us to rubber-stamp legislation we have not had the opportunity to thoroughly review,” the Democratic leaders said. “If this proposal strengthens protections for abused and neglected children, improves our youth court system, and better serves Mississippi families, then it deserves careful consideration. But consideration requires transparency, collaboration, and access to the legislative language — not assumptions about how members will vote.”

Andrew Ketchings, clerk of the House, said the House will convene in the Old Capitol building because the House chamber in the current Capitol is undergoing renovations. Lawmakers had been set to reconvene at the Old Capitol building in May to redraw state Supreme Court districts, but Reeves ultimately called that special session off.

The Old Capitol is the site where Mississippi lawmakers once implemented Jim Crow and voted to secede from the Union over slavery. The plan to host a special session there on redistricting drew fierce criticism from Democratic lawmakers, most of whom are Black.

As of now, Reeves has not called a special session on redistricting. Although unlikely, he could add that to the agenda while lawmakers are back in Jackson starting tomorrow, or call another special session later this year. During his tenure as governor, Reeves has been reluctant to call lawmakers into special session unless at least rough agreements had been reached, to avoid long, costly sessions.

Lawmakers debated a youth court reform bill during their 2026 regular session. The reform package also contained a measure extending the “repealer” in existing law on how confidential youth court records can be shared between courts, state agencies, attorneys and law enforcement.

READ MORE: State court office will follow judge orders on youth court access, while legal conundrum around secrecy remains

When a repealer, or sunset clause, is included in a state law, the law or a section goes away on a specified date unless the Legislature votes to reenact it. Because the Legislature didn’t pass a measure extending the repealer, those confidentiality measures and other youth court laws expired.

The state Supreme Court issued an order earlier this month that state officials said will allow youth court business to proceed as usual. That order expires on July 24, but the Court could extend that order.

The special session will begin Wednesday at 3 p.m.

COLUMBUS — Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, at a Tuesday press conference called for banning members of Congress and their immediate families from trading stocks and criticized his Republican opponent for opposing such a measure last year. 

Colom said in his hometown of Columbus that if elected, he will push Congress to pass a measure that would give independent investigators “more teeth” to enforce ethics laws for congressional officials, require public officials to disclose more of their financial information, and establish an ethics office in the U.S. Senate.

“A rule with no consequences is just a suggestion,” Colom said. “And Congress has run on suggestions for too long.” 

In December, incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith voted to block a stock-trading ban proposal from advancing out of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.  She joined the Republicans on the committee to block the proposal from Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia.  

Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, didn’t directly address Colom’s stock-ban proposal, but told Mississippi Today in a statement that Colom’s press conference was “nothing more than political theater” and that his campaign was “just plain sad to watch”

“Can you imagine someone this deceitful as a federal judge?” Monssen said. “Every day, Sen. Hyde-Smith is further vindicated in her decision to block him from becoming one.”

The Democratic nominee also criticized Hyde-Smith for using campaign donations to pay for travel to Las Vegas. Hyde-Smith has not directly addressed repeated questions about her Las Vegas trips, but her campaign has said in a previous statement that the senator routinely “raises funds to support her campaign from donors across the country.” 

Colom is the elected district attorney for Lowndes, Clay, Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties. He was first elected in 2015 and won reelection twice. Former President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a federal judgeship in 2022. His nomination received bipartisan support, but Hyde-Smith blocked his confirmation. 

Hyde-Smith is a former state senator, serving as a Democrat for much of that time, and later as state agriculture commissioner. Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed her to the U.S. Senate in 2018 to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Thad Cochran when he resigned. She was elected to a full term in 2020 and is up for reelection this year.

Colom and Hyde-Smith will compete against each other in the general election on Nov. 3, along with independent candidate Ty Pinkins. 

The Jackson City Council voted Tuesday to approve a citywide data center moratorium. It is the first city in Mississippi to do so.

Ward 1 Council Member Ashby Foote has often been the lone voice on the council extolling the benefits a data center could bring to the city, noting it could boost Jackson’s middling general fund revenue by millions of dollars. 

“While the data center may not be the perfect economic development, I think it’s a very worthy economic development,” Foote said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. 

The moratorium is the latest step in a months-long debate over the future of data centers in Mississippi’s capital city. City Council President and Ward 4 Council Member Brian Grizzell first proposed the six-month moratorium in April. Since then, there have been multiple city and community meetings to educate and solicit feedback from the public. 

“This council has voted to go in the right direction,” Grizzell said after the moratorium passed 5-2, with Foote and Ward 5 Council Member Vernon Hartley voting against. 

The council can extend or cancel the moratorium at any time. For its duration, the ordinance states the council will identify appropriate sites for a data center and investigate the potential impacts of such development on the city. 

A New Jersey-based developer has expressed interest in building a data center in northwest Jackson. Multiple data centers under construction in the state are projected to bring in millions of dollars each year in new property taxes, growing the coffers of local governments. 

When the proposal to rezone the 230-acre piece of property in northwest Jackson went to the planning board, a large crowd turned up in opposition. Public comments have consistently been in favor of a temporary moratorium and passing regulations to address community concerns.  

Even as AI promises to reshape the world, the physical infrastructure it needs has become a maelstrom of contention across the country. Jackson is not alone in passing a temporary moratorium. Other cities and states have considered or even passed temporary bans on data center development.

In Mississippi, Clinton and Madison have updated their zoning ordinances to regulate new data centers and Clarksdale attached a list of conditions when it rezoned property where a developer was considering building a data center. Legislators are also starting to explore regulation at the state level, including an AI task force meeting this week.

During Tuesday’s debate on the moratorium, Ward 3 Council Member Kenny Stokes said that he theoretically supports data centers but believed council members should have more control over economic development in their wards. 

“I don’t think it’s right that we’re putting something in a council person’s ward and the people don’t want it, the council man doesn’t want it, but you’re doing it because you can,” he said. 

Ward 5 Council Member Vernon Hartley said that he spoke to the property owner a few days ago and told him that Jackson is not ready for a data center. 

“We need money, true, but we’re looking at an industry here that is still being developed and tested all over the county,” he said. 

But Hartley said he felt a moratorium would divide the city. Instead, he said Jackson needed to identify engineering or consulting firms that could help the city’s legal department vet potential data center developments. 

Ward 1 Council Member Kevin Parkinson proposed reducing the moratorium to 60 days in an amendment that failed. Another amendment Parkinson offered to create an exemption from the moratorium for land surrounding the Jackson airport passed. 

Now disgraced and convicted former Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens laid it out clearly to the undercover feds offering bribes to Mississippi politicians.

Owens, according to a federal indictment, explained the politicians would “clean (the bribes) like we always do, we’ll put it in a campaign account …”

“Owens also explained that because public officials finance their personal lives through their campaign accounts, campaign contributions were the most effective way to influence them, so long as the money came from within the state of Mississippi,” the indictment said.

Mississippi’s weak, jumbled and conflicting campaign finance laws, along with nearly nonexistent enforcement and meager transparency, are a recipe for political corruption and the corrosive influence of secretive big-money special interests.

The conviction of Owens, former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and two City Council members in an FBI bribery sting in which campaign accounts played a prominent role, makes the need for Mississippi campaign finance reform and transparency clear and present.

There have been some, mostly ineffectual, efforts at reform over many years. But the Mississippi Legislature has largely treated these efforts like the plague. The one thing on which most lawmakers appear to agree, be they on the far right, far left or somewhere in between, is that they don’t want any real regulation or transparency over their tax-exempt campaign finance accounts.

Going on a decade ago, lawmakers passed what was billed as a prohibition on personal use of campaign funds. This came after an embarrassing series of news articles about Mississippi politicians using their campaign funds for vacation trips, paying their taxes, a BMW for a family member, an RV to park at Disney World, paying themselves and family, hiring a personal injury lawyer and even buying an $800 pair of cowboy boots.

But the law lacked teeth or clear enforcement authority and, it would appear from what Owens told the undercover FBI agents, politicians still use campaign accounts as personal slush funds. Or, to occasionally launder tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.

Secretary of State Michael Watson has for the last few years pushed for reform, with some assistance from Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, but the Legislature has snuffed the efforts out. Such reform hasn’t even gotten a real hearing in the House.

Mississippi voters don’t even stand a fighting chance at figuring out who’s buying our politicians. Most other states, including all those surrounding Mississippi, have searchable databases of campaign contributions. Politicians elsewhere, including Congress, have been required to file campaign finance reports electronically for years, in some cases decades. 

But not in Mississippi, nay, nay. Politicians can, if they so choose, file handwritten, illegible reports, in crayon if they like (one candidate did hers in calligraphy years ago). 

Campaign finance reports are not as routine checked by anyone for legibility, completeness or accuracy, and they are stored as un-searchable PDFs. Some politicians have filed blank forms. Or, as has been done with little consequence, they can just not file reports. Mayor Lumumba went for three years without filing a report, and when questioned just noted that is “not uncustomary for my campaign.”

A former state lawmaker once filed a report listing a $1,000 expense as “Auto GAS-Travel” for the payee, “CASH” for the address and “Auto GAS (CASH)” as the purpose for the campaign spending. A $5,000 expense was labeled as “Casual Labors” with no other explanation.

Watson has a new computer system at the secretary of state’s office and is creating an online filing system. He has pushed lawmakers to require electronic campaign finance filing, but to no avail.

“I wonder how many cases like this it will take for the Legislature to finally pass common sense and strong campaign finance reform?” Watson said after recent guilty pleas in the Jackson federal corruption case. 

The legislative arguments against even having to file reports that the public can easily decipher have been asinine.

Longtime Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, has repeatedly argued that requiring Mississippi candidates to fill out an electronic form for campaign donations and spending would be too onerous. He said that using technology that’s been in most people’s homes – or pockets, with cell phones – for decades would prohibit some from running for office.

The Mississippi public at-large perhaps hasn’t tripped to the fact that it’s being kept in the dark more than other states’ residents or that the state’s lack of campaign finance, lobbying and ethics laws are an open invite to corruption and special interest control. 

Meanwhile, more and more money flows into Mississippi campaigns. Even legislative races have become more expensive affairs, with campaigns sometimes raising and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. In recent election cycles, we’ve seen millions of dollars of dark money flow into campaigns and PACs and what would appear to be flagrant violations of what few rules and limits the state does have – should anyone try to enforce them.

But ironically, the only time this has appeared to be a real issue with lawmakers is during recent attempts to reinstate the public’s right to sidestep the Legislature and place measures directly on a statewide ballot.

In that case, many lawmakers have said as they have repeatedly shot down ballot initiative reinstatement, they fear big-money special interests might improperly influence such proposals and campaigns and co-opt voters. 

Maybe they’re worried that would leave less money for them.

University of Mississippi researchers, armed with a bevy of data, have in recent weeks met with state lawmakers and outlined their case for why the Legislature should fund new programs to study and treat problematic gambling. 

The researchers will request a $2 million annual allocation to fund two major gambling initiatives on campus, a presentation obtained by Mississippi Today shows. 

The effort comes as gambling in the U.S. is on the rise due to increasing access and availability, the researchers said. It also comes as the legalization of mobile sports betting remains stalled in the Mississippi Legislature, with House and Senate leaders at loggerheads over the policy. 

The University of Mississippi researchers have not taken a position on the legalization of mobile sports betting. Hailing from departments ranging from social work to higher education to the law school, the researchers will ask for $1 million to fund a Center on Collegiate Gambling. The center will conduct academic research on student gambling and gambling on collegiate sports. 

The other $1 million would fund gambling treatment clinics for the general population of Mississippi. The home-base clinic would be located at the University of Mississippi, with additional potential clinics at Mississippi State University, Jackson State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. 

The University of Mississippi announced the launch of its Center on Collegiate Gambling in March, describing it as the “first of its kind in the nation” amid rising national concern about betting on collegiate sports. 

Researchers affiliated with the initiative have since been looking for steady funding for the center. Figures included in the presentation they delivered to lawmakers point to a growing problem that will take resources to solve. 

About 20 million people, or 8% of U.S. adults, report experiencing at least one problematic gambling behavior several times in the past year. The estimated social cost of problem gambling in the U.S. is $14 billion a year, according to findings from the National Council on Problem Gambling. That can be traced to gambling-related criminal justice and healthcare spending, as well as job loss, debt and bankruptcy. 

In Mississippi, an estimated 4% of adults in Mississippi are believed to meet criteria for gambling disorder. 

In late June, Rep. Beth Luther Waldo, a Republican from Pontotoc, said she and several fellow lawmakers visited the University of Mississippi and that the growing problem of gambling addiction among young people “stood out as particularly concerning.” 

“We discussed how easily some individuals can become trapped in a cycle of gambling losses and debt often digging themselves into an even deeper hole as they try to recover what they’ve lost,” Waldo wrote on social media. “While online sports betting is currently illegal in Mississippi, many young people (& adults) are still accessing gambling opportunities through offshore websites and other online platforms.” 

A 2025 survey of schools in the Institutions of Higher Learning found that about 40% of undergraduate students gambled in the past year, most often via lottery, cards and sports betting. Gambling was more prevalent among students who were male, white, lived off campus, participated in sports and were involved in Greek life. About 16% of student sports bettors met criteria for moderate or severe problem gambling. 

But more broadly, the researchers said, nine out of 10 individuals with a gambling problem never receive treatment. 

While gambling might be a financial problem for some individual Mississippi residents, it’s big business for the state as a whole. 

In 2025, total statewide commercial casino gambling revenue in Mississippi was $2.43 billion, the researchers said. That same year, commercial casinos generated approximately $287.9 million in direct gaming tax revenue.

Despite the growing prevalence of gambling addiction and the longstanding power of the state’s casino industry, Mississippi is one of only nine states with no public funding specifically designated for problem gambling services, the researchers said. 

The state used to transfer $100,000 to the Mississippi Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling, but that spending was discontinued in 2018. 

In addition to being one of the few states with no taxpayer-funded gambling services, Mississippi has also remained among a minority of states that haven’t legalized mobile sports betting.

The opposition is largely rooted in fears that legalization could harm the bottom line of the state’s casinos and increase the prevalence of gambling addiction. That hasn’t stopped a thriving black market from taking hold in the state.

In 2024, illegal online betting in Mississippi made up about 5% of the national illegal market, which is about $3 billion in illegal bets in Mississippi, proponents said that year. Supporters of legalization, including House Speaker Jason White, say people will place online sports wagers regardless of whether the practice is legal, so the state should regulate and tax it.

The state House voted, for the third year in a row, to legalize mobile sports betting during the regular 2026 legislative session. But Senate leaders have said they plan to let the measure die again.

Recently, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who leads the Senate, restated his opposition to legalization, citing the potential economic impact on casinos and “a social cost that is of increasing concern.”

“Mobile sports betting could undermine the billions of dollars invested in brick-and-mortar gaming facilities across our state, increase opportunities for misconduct and illegal actions involving athletes, and raise serious questions about whether the resulting tax revenue would even be sufficient to offset the associated social and economic costs,” Hosemann said. “The Senate should continue to reject this harmful legislation.”

Whether or not Mississippi chooses to legalize mobile sports betting in the future, the University of Mississippi researchers told lawmakers that their gambling initiatives will educate the public around responsible gambling while providing a safety net for those who develop problems.

Christine Wonsley says she and her husband had difficult conversations with their son about race as he grew up in Mississippi, a place where in a not-too-distant past, Black people were denied equal treatment under the law. 

Those childhood conversations with Nolan Xavier Wells have taken new meaning as the grieving mother and others press local authorities for a thorough investigation into the mysterious death of the 18-year-old, whose body was found two days after he and several white friends traveled by boat to Horn Island on the Fourth of July.

The tragedy – and whether foul play and race were factors – has evoked a painful history in a state where investigations into the deaths of Black people have not always been pursued with the same rigor as those involving white victims.

That history has not been lost on Wonsley and her family.

“Me and his dad had conversations with him all the time, not just about the importance of understanding our history as Black people, but also the importance of how you have to move in certain spaces,” Wonsley said at a press conference Friday in New York, standing by  the Rev. Al Sharpton and nationally prominent attorney Ben Crump. 

“It’s not us feeding into racism or the stereotypes that come with that,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s just a matter of fact.”

Lingering questions about how Wells died have ignited broader discussions about systemic racism, policing and the experience of being a Black person living in a majority-white environment.

“People see it as another event where Black bodies don’t matter,” said Byron D’Andra Orey, a political science professor at Jackson State University who studies racial trauma. “How Black people process and are exposed to these events leads to the constant cycle of traumatic experiences.”

Orey said Wells’ death, while still under investigation, has reinforced a belief that justice will not be served – a common sentiment in the aftermath of high-profile incidents of violence against Black Americans such as Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Floyd.

A photo circulating across social media, purportedly taken during the fateful trip to Horn Island, shows Wells with his arms around three white friends, prompting questions about why the wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College was left behind on the island, as investigators say he was. 

Crump, who is representing Wells’ family, has said his boat companions mentioned Wells wanted to stay on the island to talk to a woman and that he would catch a ride back to shore on another boat. But also according to Crump, the young woman said Wells told her he was getting back on the boat with that original group of friends. 

Wonsley tracked his cellphone to the home of one of his boat-ride companions from the holiday weekend, according to Crump. She used Life360, an application that allows users to track the location of other people’s devices and items using bluetooth technology. Nolan’s keys were found at the home of one of the men he was pictured with over the holiday weekend, according to Elmore Wonsley, Wells’ father.

“We are in Mississippi,” Crump told parishioners Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta. “These were three young white men. Nolan was the only young Black man. Had the roles been reversed, we know this investigation would be going differently. It would be like the first 48. They would be interrogating those young, Black boys.”

Mississippi coast Chancery Court Judge Ashlee Cole, who is the mother of one of Wells’ white friends, denied her family was hindering the investigation into Wells’ death in a statement. She said her son was interviewed by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office as part of the investigation. She claimed Wells left the island with a separate group of friends. 

Crump also accused local authorities of easily dismissing possible wrongdoing, suggesting that Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter’s pronouncement that “no foul play was suspected” – even before an autopsy was completed – was premature.

Ledbetter, who did not respond to requests for comment, has asked the public to share photos and video, sightings and interactions and observations of any arguments or disturbances on the island from July 4. He also asked people to refrain from spreading unverified information. 

Skepticism was echoed Saturday in Wells’ hometown of Ocean Springs, where dozens of demonstrators marched in solidarity with his family and called for more transparency in the investigation.

“There has been a long, long stream, historic stream, of young Black men losing their life under very suspicious circumstances,” Biloxi resident Gordon Jackson told WLOX on Saturday.

Communities on the Mississippi coast are racially diverse. However, racial violence in the distant and more recent past still impacted communities in Mississippi regardless of demographic breakdown. Coast school districts, which are roughly a 20-minute drive from each other, are diverse, too. Biloxi High is 40.6% white and 35.4% Black. Gulfport High is 51.1% Black and 36.2% white. Wells attended Ocean Springs High, a predominantly white school district in a mostly white coastal community. Ocean Springs High is 70.8% white and 12.9% Black. The city is 79.6% white and 7.6% Black.

The death of other young, Black men in Mississippi have started similar conversations about race relations in the once Confederate state. Last September, the body of 21-year-old Demartravion “Trey” Reed was found hanging from a tree on the Delta State University campus in Cleveland – and for many people, his death conjured disturbing images of  the Deep South’s history of lynching. The state medical examiner’s office ruled it a suicide, prompting skepticism among the family and the community. After Crump started representing Reed’s family, an independent autopsy was conducted but Crump’s office has not released the results.

Mississippi Today has reported in recent years on state autopsies of Black homicide victims that were later found to be incorrect. State investigators missed obvious signs of police brutality in the death of Damien Cameron. A medical examiner ruled out suicide by misinterpreting the pathway of a bullet that killed Danelle Young.

The Mississippi chapter of the NAACP said it will actively monitor the Wells investigation.

“Justice cannot thrive in the shadows,” said the Rev. John Whitfield, the chapter’s president. “When an 18-year-old life is lost under troubling circumstances, transparency is not a privilege to be granted – it is a public obligation.”

A state autopsy of Wells was completed last week but its results, including a cause of death and toxicology, have not yet been released.

Last week Crump said an independent autopsy will be completed in Washington. On Monday, a spokesperson said there were no investigation or autopsy updates. 

Amid the ongoing investigation and the tensions that have risen across the community, the Wells family has called for calm and peace, saying the teen would have wanted it that way.

Wonsley called her son a kind soul who loved everybody, regardless if they “were Black, white, purple, green, looked like a marshmallow.”

With his death, so much more will be left unknown.

“This is not how I wanted the world to get to know my son,” she said. “But here we are.”

Correction, 7/13/2026: This article has been corrected to show that the police beating of Rodney King received national attention.

Esta historia es una traducción del artículo publicado en Mississippi Today el 1 de julio de 2026. 

OXFORD – Tras una oleada de detenciones en Oxford y sus alrededores durante las dos primeras semanas de junio, comunidades de inmigrantes se enfrentaron a una falta de información por parte de las autoridades mientras lidiaban con las emergencias y las afectaciones en las vidas, las familias y los negocios provocadas por los arrestos.

Testigos en Oxford grabaron en vídeo y fotografiaron a agentes del ICE en vehículos sin identificación arrestando a personas, en su mayoría latinos yendo al trabajo, en intersecciones y paradas de tránsito. Una red de base con sede en Memphis (Tennessee), Vecindarios901, descubrió que al menos 24 personas fueron detenidas. Muchas de ellas permanecieron retenidas brevemente en el Centro de Detención del Condado de Madison, en el centro de Mississippi, y luego fueron trasladadas rápidamente a centros de detención más grandes del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) en Louisiana y Alabama, entre ellos una prisión privada en Jena (Louisiana) con un historial documentado de tortura y malos tratos. 

Para muchas personas que intentaban localizar a amigos y familiares que habían sido detenidos, Vecindarios901 fue una fuente de información fundamental. La red responde principalmente a las detenciones en Memphis y sus alrededores, donde las comunidades de inmigrantes han sido los principales objetivos de la Memphis Safe Task Force, una operación conjunta de agencias federales —entre ellas el ICE y la Guardia Nacional— en colaboración con las autoridades locales. (El memorándum del presidente Donald Trump de septiembre de 2025 creó esta fuerza para «acabar con la delincuencia callejera y los delitos violentos», pero los agentes federales han sido acusados de actos repetidos de violencia y acoso).  

Situada a más de una hora en carro al sureste de Memphis, Oxford no ha sido un objetivo habitual de las autoridades federales de inmigración, pero Vecindarios901 también vigila la zona debido a la proximidad a su sede. Los operadores indicaron que estas detenciones constituían el operativo de control migratorio de mayor magnitud que habían registrado cerca de Oxford desde septiembre. 

Bailey Martin Holloway, vocera del Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Mississippi, escribió que, dado que el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EE. UU. —que incluye ICE— era la agencia principal en el operativo de Oxford, «cualquier información tendría que ser facilitada por ellos».

El ICE, el Departamento del Sheriff del condado de Lafayette y el Departamento del Sheriff del condado de Madison no respondieron a preguntas sobre el número de personas detenidas ni sobre el lugar al que fueron trasladadas. El portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Oxford, Breck Jones, afirmó que la policía municipal no participó en los operativos y no recibió ninguna información sobre las detenciones. La alcaldesa de Oxford, Robyn Tannehill, no respondió a múltiples solicitudes de comentarios.

Nena Garza, que usa un seudónimo para evitar represalias de las autoridades por su trabajo, es una de las buscadoras capacitadas de Vecindarios901. Se han convertido en expertas en el uso de diversos recursos en línea para ayudar a las familias de la región a localizar a sus familiares detenidos. Las herramientas para encontrar a los detenidos existen, afirmó Nena Garza, pero «poca gente maneja esto, no sabe cómo llegar a esto». 

Ella y otros buscadores recopilan información comparando los datos de los registros de detención del condado, una plataforma privada diseñada para que las familias envíen dinero a los presos, el localizador de detenidos de ICE y las actualizaciones de las autoridades locales a través de la aplicación Mobile Patrol.

Sin embargo, el elevado número de detenciones de inmigrantes en la región hace imposible que los buscadores puedan ocuparse de todos los casos. «Son demasiados», afirmó Nena Garza. «Si salgo de la oficina y tengo mi computadora o mi iPad, me pongo a registrar, a checar a ver dónde están».

En un restaurante de carretera a las afueras de Oxford, el marido de la propietaria contó que está balanceando su trabajo a tiempo completo en la construcción con la gestión del restaurante desde que su esposa, de nacionalidad hondureña, fue detenida en Memphis a principios de junio. Posteriormente, el ICE llegó a Oxford y detuvo al hijo de uno de los empleados del restaurante. 

«Se han llevado a muchos de mis amigos, muchos conocidos con las redadas de esa forma, con los retenes de migración», dijo el esposo de la dueña, quien habló bajo condición de anonimato para evitar ser identificado por las autoridades de inmigración. «Nos hemos quedado tristes porque mucha de la gente que conocíamos ya no está».

Dijo que su esposa lleva 16 años viviendo en los Estados Unidos, que ha formado una familia aquí, que dirige dos negocios y que estaba a punto de conseguir su tarjeta de residencia. Asumir las responsabilidades de ella ha sido un reto tanto para él como para los empleados del restaurante, sobre todo porque les preocupa la situación a la que se enfrentan sus seres queridos en los centros de detención. Afirmó que las autoridades no le han dado a su esposa los medicamentos recetados y que ella sigue perdiendo peso.

«Tengo miedo de que me la dejen morir ahí», dijo. «Me destroza el corazón».

Nena Garza dijo que, más allá de las desapariciones, las detenciones generan una serie de situaciones de emergencia que las redes de apoyo se apresuran a solucionar, entre ellas: buscar quién cuide de los niños que se quedan sin guardianes, ayudar a las familias cuyo principal proveedor económico ha sido detenido a pagar la renta y los gastos de la casa y organizar el transporte a la escuela o las citas cuando las familias se quedan sin carro o tienen miedo de salir de casa. Recuperar los vehículos que quedan abandonados y son retirados por la grúa tras la detención de sus conductores puede costar a los familiares entre cientos o miles de dólares. Pero el principal daño, Nena Garza afirma, es el trauma emocional.

«La comunidad está muy dañada, está muy dolida por esa situación», dijo. «Estamos hablando que el Gobierno usó su fuerza, su autoridad para aterrorizar a la comunidad.» 

Las organizaciones que prestan apoyo a las comunidades de inmigrantes se preparan para un posible aumento de los operativos de control migratorio a partir del miércoles, fecha en la que entrará en vigencia la legislación estatal que obliga a todos los condados de Mississippi a firmar acuerdos de cooperación 287(g) con el ICE. Hasta finales de junio, 24 de los 82 condados de Mississippi habían firmado dichos acuerdos, así como varios municipios, el Departamento de Instituciones Penitenciarias y el Departamento de Seguridad Pública. 

Según datos públicos de ICE, a finales de 2025 y principios de 2026 se produjeron alrededor de 300 detenciones de inmigrantes al mes en Mississippi, un aumento respecto a las aproximadamente 200 al mes registradas durante la mayor parte de 2025. Paula Merchant, directora de una organización sin fines de lucro con sede en Jackson que presta apoyo a familias inmigrantes, afirmó que en Mississippi se observó a partir de noviembre un aumento de las detenciones de personas en carreteras, calles y gasolineras. Mississippi Today informó sobre este aumento de las detenciones, que se produjo aproximadamente al mismo tiempo que el DHS puso en marcha un operativo de control migratorio dirigido al sur de Louisiana y Mississippi. 

Según el Plan Estratégico del ICE, las detenciones se dirigen contra «personas que representan una amenaza para la seguridad nacional, la seguridad pública o la integridad del sistema de inmigración de EE. UU.». Sin embargo, la gran mayoría de las personas detenidas por el ICE no tienen antecedentes penales, según el Consejo Americano de Inmigración. Además, el ritmo sin precedentes de los cambios administrativos y las interpretaciones de la ley migratoria bajo la segunda administración de Trump —incluidas las políticas de nuevas detenciones y la terminación del Estatus de Protección Temporal— implican que muchas de las personas que se encuentran actualmente detenidas cumplían con los procedimientos de inmigración hasta que «las reglas cambiaron bajo sus pies de todos modos», según Calvo. 

Nena Garza vivió las redadas masivas contra los inmigrantes en las procesadoras de pollo de Arkansas y en el sector de servicios de Memphis a finales de la década de 1990, pero afirma que la persecución de los inmigrantes bajo la segunda administración de Trump es la «más terrible» que ha vivido.

«Te duele y te vas a la cama y estás con el corazón bien apachurrado de todo lo que vistes en el día» dijo.

Pero también afirmó que, en sus 30 años de trabajo en apoyo de las comunidades de inmigrantes, nunca había visto a tanta gente movilizarse para responder a las detenciones, sus consecuencias y otras políticas contra los inmigrantes. «Como comunidad, tenemos que reforzarnos, tenemos que protegernos», afirmó.

Georgie Pease se unió a Mississippi Today mediante una beca de 10 semanas con la Escuela de Periodismo de la Universidad de California en Berkeley. Para esta historia, reportó desde Oxford y Memphis.

Mississippi Today tradujo este artículo con una herramienta de inteligencia artificial; modificaciones y una revisión final fueron realizadas por personas. Patricio Provencio colaboró con traducción.