In the small agricultural town of Moroni, the turkey-processing plant has been part of daily life for more than 85 years.

The facility, one of the largest employers in Sanpete County, has helped support generations of families in the town of about 1,500 people. Today, it operates under the Norbest name as part of Pitman Farms, which bought Norbest in 2018.

So when workers finished their shifts late Wednesday night and reported seeing immigration agents stopping people outside the plant, word quickly spread through the community.

Workers who asked to remain anonymous told the Sanpete Messenger that marked and unmarked trucks were driving through the area around the plant at 350 S. 300 West as immigration agents stopped people leaving work. One worker, the news outlet reported, climbed onto the roof of the plant and watched the trucks below.

By the end of the night, five people had been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to North Valley Police Department Deputy Chief Logan Ludvigson.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Friday there was no targeted immigration operation at the turkey plant.

Ludvigson said ICE agents were instead riding along with North Valley police officers as they made routine traffic stops across the county. Those stops, Ludvigson said, were for infractions like speeding or having a headlight or license plate light out.

“They stopped a lot of cars that night,” he said, adding that no people or businesses were targeted.

The five people were taken to the police station before being turned over to ICE, Ludvigson said. He said he does not know where they were taken afterward or how ICE came to be involved in the stops.

“If ICE wanted to detain the individual during the traffic stop, they did,” Ludvigson said. “And all our officers did was the traffic stops and then transportation to our Police Department until ICE left.”

The Police Department, along with Gunnison Valley Police Department, also in Sanpete County, signed 287(g) task force model agreements with ICE in August. They are two of only three police departments in Utah with this type of agreement; Riverton has had its agreement since August 2025.

The task force model is the most intensive of ICE’s 287(g) agreements. It allows designated local officers to investigate and make immigration arrests as part of their regular police duties, including during traffic stops.

North Valley police Chief Steve Gray said the Sanpete County Sheriff’s Office was not involved in the arrests. The sheriff’s office has had a 287(g) agreement with ICE since November 2025 under what’s called the warrant service officer model, which allows agencies to execute immigration warrants against people in their jails but does not give officers an investigative role.

ICE did not respond to requests Friday for more information about the five people and their immigration statuses.

‘They’re hiding’

In the days since the stops, fear has reverberated through Moroni’s Hispanic community, where some parents have kept their children home from school.

A longtime Moroni resident, whose job involves working with families, said based on her conversations with them, her own relatives and her friends, people are staying home even if they have legal immigration status because they worry they could be stopped.

The resident asked to remain anonymous because she fears speaking out could draw immigration agents’ attention to vulnerable people she knows and could affect her job.

Residents’ fear has led them to avoid the grocery store and steer clear of the town’s main streets, she said.

“They’re hiding out, and they shouldn’t be hiding out,” the resident said. “It’s unfair.”

Others have turned to Facebook to search for loved ones who were taken into custody and try to find out where they were being held. Residents also shared reports of family members being taken into custody in Gunnison and posted sightings of where they believed they had seen immigration officers around the county in the days since.

The fear also spilled into schools.

North Sanpete School District, which serves eight schools in the area, including Moroni Elementary and North Sanpete Middle School, saw a noticeable drop in attendance Thursday and Friday, Superintendent O’Dee Hansen said.

At North Sanpete Middle School, about 80 of the roughly 400 students were absent Thursday, Hansen said. At Moroni Elementary, 56 students were absent.

Hansen said one student in the district reported that a parent was among the five people taken into ICE custody. The arrests have caused “trauma” for some students, he said, and that fear is now showing up in the classroom.

For the longtime Moroni resident who asked not to be identified, the presence of ICE is unfamiliar. The resident, who grew up in the town and lived there for 40 years, had never seen immigration agents in the area before.

Now, she said, people are asking questions and trying to figure out what is happening, with few answers.

“It’s very nerve-wracking. I’m scared myself,” she said. “Everything that’s happening right now is affecting students, is affecting families, and it’s not OK.”