Waterloo, Ia. – Lawyers are seeking access this morning to workers who were detained at the Postville meat processing plant, and volunteers are working for the release of about 20 or so minor-aged workers.
Of the minor workers, all are older teens, around age 17, said Sister Kathy Thill of the House of Mercy in Waterloo, who traveled to Postville to work with the families.
Federal immigration officials have declined to release the teens to anyone but a parent who shows identification, Thill said.
The families told volunteers the names of about a dozen minors, and those names were given to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Some were released and some were not, Thill said.
“I don’t know why,” Thill said. “I just don’t know what the situation is.”
The teens are believed to be in Waterloo, at the makeshift ICE detention center at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds. Volunteers are encouraging relatives to fill out an official federal document called a G-28, which gives detainees the right to be represented by a lawyer in immigration court.
On Monday, more than 300 workers were arrested at Postville’s Agriprocessors Inc., the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse. The workplace raid was the largest in Iowa history.
The 300 people arrested represent almost one-third of the plant’s 968 workers.
At 9 a.m. today, three lawyers - Miryam Antúnez de Mayolo of Cedar Falls, JoAnn Barten of Ames and Sonja Parras Konrad of Des Moines – intended to ask ICE officials for permission to see clients inside Cattle Congress.
Last night, De Mayolo had G-28s from families for two female detainees and two men, but she wasn’t able to talk to any of them. ICE officials said one woman had been released. They didn’t have custody of another woman, and they had no records on the two men, she said.
It’s possible the immigrants had not yet been processed with fingerprints and photos yet, De Mayolo said. Or it’s possible they gave ICE officials fictitious names they made up on the spot – a practice she discourages, she said.
De Mayolo said she was not allowed into any buildings, but asked to wait in a parking lot. She noted the bustle of federal officials around her.
“It is a major operation. I have never seen so many ICE officials together like that,” she said.
The fairgrounds is surrounded by a high chain-link fence with armed guards at several gates.
This morning, cars drove in and out: catering vans, a uniform company, rental cars filled with ICE officials and beefy SUVs with license plates from Georgia, New York and Colorado.
Meanwhile, Thill said she’s hearing some conflicting information that concerns her.
ICE officials said Monday that the male detainees would be housed at the Cattle Congress while the women went to local jails, but Thill said “I know for a fact some women were in Waterloo last night.”
And ICE reported early in the afternoon that about 40 women had been released in Postville for “humanitarian” reasons, including a need to care for their children. But at 4 p.m., no women had been released, Thill said.
Thill said she believes every child in Postville was picked up from school Monday by a family member.
Asked what she’s hearing from the families, Thill answered: “The families, they’re just totally devastated and torn apart. It’s just a very difficult situation.”
Postville plant reopens after raid
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Postville, Ia. - The Agriprocessors meatpacking plant appears to be back in business this morning, less than 12 hours after federal and state agents finished an immigration raid there.
More than 100 cars were in the employee parking lot this morning. A company official standing near the entrance was talking on the phone with someone about “today’s chicken kill.”
The man said company managers had no public comment. “They don’t want to talk to anybody,” he said before walking away.
Hundreds of the plant’s workers were hauled away to a temporary immigration processing center in Waterloo Monday.
This morning, there was no sign of the scores of federal and state law officers who blocked every entrance to the plant Monday.
Bruce Stockman, who operates an auto shop across the street from Agriprocessor, said far fewer workers walked by his business this morning to the plant. He said heavy truck traffic going to and coming from the plant was much less than normal.
“Usually there are tons of people who walk by here on their way to work,” he said. “I haven’t even seen my neighbors since the raid happened. I hope they’re OK.”
Stockman worries that his business will suffer because of the customers he lost to the raid, and that the pending deportations may erode the trust he has established with other immigrants.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “When the turkey plant burned down, it hurt business a little, but this will be much worse.”
Immigration raid: Workers take care, take cover
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Waterloo, Ia. - Iowa workers without legal documentation went into hiding Monday and rushed to fill out paperwork for the care of their children and property in anticipation of being arrested, lawyers and immigration rights workers said.
Rumors were flying in Waterloo, Storm Lake, Marshalltown and elsewhere that other raids would occur or that they had already taken place.
All appeared to be unfounded.
The criminal and civil warrants were issued only in Postville on Monday, said Barbara Gonzalez, a federal immigration spokeswoman from Miami who is in Waterloo this week.
“The arrests are based on intelligence and investigative leads, so I think that dispels those rumors,” she said.
But word flashed through the Waterloo immigrant community that businesses such as Tyson Foods or Kaiser Contract Cleaning were targeted. Officials of both companies said that that was not true, and that they knew of no pending raids.
Other false rumors kept people from going to local stores because they heard federal officials would be there, asking for identification.
“We don’t conduct random arrests,” Gonzalez said.
Volunteers at El Centro Latinoamericano, a Latino resource center in Waterloo, said they were using announcements on La Buena, a radio station at 1250 AM, to try to squelch the rumor that ICE was knocking on doors of homes.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people were filling out paperwork: power of attorney documents to provide for care of children and property, and federal G-28 documents that allow an attorney to represent them in immigration court, lawyers said.
“People are panicky. They’re in hiding,” said immigration attorney Miryam Antúnez de Mayolo of Cedar Falls.
Some families were too scared to leave their homes, and some pulled their children out of school, said Carole Gustafson, president of the board of El Centro Latinoamericano and an elementary schoolteacher.
Two Hispanic workers at Crystal Distribution Service in Waterloo took off for the day after they heard about the Postville raid, workers said.
“They gave other excuses, a sick relative or something, but we’re going on the assumption that they’re nervous about the raid,” said Doug Hemesath, who works in human resources at Crystal.
Some Waterloo-area residents stopped by the National Cattle Congress complex in search of information. One woman, who declined to give her name, said she has children who are undocumented.
Rosalinda Ruiz of Waterloo said she came to the Cattle Congress grounds to see whether she could speak to Jesus and Marcos Rodriguez, who showed up for the morning shift at the Postville plant but haven’t been heard from since.
A friend of a friend asked Ruiz to find out information for the Rodriguezes’ families. Ruiz was not allowed inside.
About 500 people gathered at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Waterloo Monday night. At least three lawyers were there until very late, answering questions.
“People are just so scared, you know?” said Ruiz, who works for a collection agency in Waterloo seeking payment on overdue medical bills.
Immigration raid: Town’s Hispanics shutter businesses, scatter
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Postville, Ia. - The phone calls started at 5 a.m. They carried the same message:
Immigration was coming.
Paul Real, a lay pastor at the Ministerio Hispano, said his phone was ringing off the hook.
“Calls have been flying around,” he said Monday morning. “There are rumors everywhere.”
Twelve hours later, Hispanic businesses in downtown Postville were shuttered. Locks held the door at El Sabor Latino grocery store and restaurant. Bowls of chips and salsa were abandoned along with a half-empty bottle of Coke.
At the Postville Bakery and Restaurant - which also goes by La Panederia y Pasteleria - a sign in the doorway said, “We will be closed at 11 a.m. today.”
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant scattered the Hispanics of Postville. About 400 found their way to St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, waiting for information. Some filled out G-28 forms that allow a lawyer to represent their detained children or minors in their care.
A woman who would identify herself only as Judy said she and her husband work at Agriprocessors. The last time she saw him was before his shift Monday, about 5:30 a.m.
“No, I don’t know where he is,” she said in Spanish.
Judy said she and her husband came from Mexico illegally. Like many others at St. Bridget’s, they regard the church as a haven from law enforcement.
Asked whether the church would indeed be a safe place, Sister Mary McCauley of St. Bridget’s said, “That is our belief and hope.”
“It’s a place to get family convened,” she said.
The Postville Community School District assembled all its Hispanic students to ensure they each had a parent or caregiver at home.
Superintendent David Strudhoff said those whose parents could be located would be allowed to go home. For the rest, elementary and middle-schoolers were paired with high school students and separated into groups.
Sitting on the floor, surrounded by 12 children, a counselor who declined to be identified tried to determine which children needed to be sent home.
“What’s your name? Where do you need to go?” she asked one. To another, “You’re safe at the church.”
By Monday night, all of the kids at the church had been paired with parents or caregivers.
Care workers brought fruit juice, diapers, Cheetos and animal crackers to St. Bridget’s. Alma Gonzalez’s 2-year-old, Cristan, munched happily on a plate stocked high with chips.
“We don’t know anything right now,” she said.
Gonzalez said her husband works on a farm in Monona. She went to the church because she came to this country illegally from Guatemala and thought St. Bridget’s would be safe.
Eight months pregnant, she’s due to have a girl in June.
Standing outside the Agriprocessors plant, Adolfo Calderon said he tried to put himself in the shoes of someone here illegally.
He has friends who work at the plant, he said, most of whom are in America legally, but he feared for the families who might be separated.
“They shouldn’t do this,” Calderon said. “I understand it’s a legal (issue) and they’re trying to do their job, but what happens to these poor families?”
Adolfo Calderon, 15, said his father manages apartments in the town. With the raid, those apartments could be cleared out and his father could be put out of business.
Hidie Roach, a teller at Citizens State Bank in Postville, said the raid gives the town a bad name.
The town needs the packing plant, Roach said. “I think a lot of people will leave.”
At St. Bridget’s on Monday night, Real, the lay pastor, fielded calls, answered questions and handed out pamphlets advising immigrants of their rights while trying to keep about 400 people clothed, sheltered and fed.
His wife, holding the phone to her ear, said a caller was offering food. Did they need it?
Real, without looking up from his desk, answered quickly.
“Say yes.”
Immigration raid: Plant official is GOP contributor
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Washington, D.C. - A top official at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville that was the subject of an immigration enforcement action Monday is an active Republican campaign contributor, records show.
Sholom Rubashkin, whose family owns the company, since 2000 has made $23,750 in federal campaign contributions, according to Federal Election Commission records.
That includes $5,750 to the Republican Party of Iowa from 2002 through 2004.
Rubashkin also gave $2,000 to Rep. Tom Latham, an Ames Republican, in 2004; $1,500 to candidate William Dix in 2006; $3,000 to candidate Stan Thompson from 2001 through 2004; $2,000 to Sen. Charles Grassley of New Hartford in 2004; and $2,500 to former Rep. Jim Nussle in 2000 and 2002.
Grassley collected another $2,000 each from Abraham Rubashkin, Leah Rubashkin and Ryfka Rubashkin, all of Postville, in August 2004.
In the wake of the Postville action, members of the Iowa congressional delegation said those who violate the law should be held accountable, but families’ well-being is important, too.
Grassley said that a blind eye can’t be turned toward lawbreakers, but “as federal officials take people into custody, I expect any action to be taken to be conducted in a professional and humanitarian manner.”
Rep. Bruce Braley, a Waterloo Democrat, said there are hundreds of children in Postville whose lives will be changed by the raid, and he wants to make sure they are a priority.
“If people have broken the law, there should be consequences,” he said. “I’ll be interested to see if federal authorities will be bringing any charges against the employer.”
Latham, whose district includes Postville, declined to comment.
Rep. Steve King of Kiron, the top Republican on an immigration panel, said those detained should be treated with respect because “we’re all God’s creatures. And yet, we are all called to abide by the rule of law.”
Rep. Leonard Boswell, a Des Moines Democrat, said that anyone who violates the law should be held accountable but “treated with dignity.”
Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Mount Vernon Democrat, said his office monitored the situation during the day. “I believe our laws must be enforced, and it is my hope that ICE officials learned valuable lessons during the 2006 raid on Swift & Co. and applied them today in Postville,” he said.
Immigration raid: Union fears action hurts probe
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A union trying to organize Postville meatpacking workers had asked federal immigration authorities earlier this month not to raid the Agriprocessors Inc. plant while a government investigation of possible labor law violations was under way.
Mark Lauritsen, international vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, wrote a May 2 letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, advising officials of an ongoing labor dispute at the Postville plant.
Lauritsen said he was concerned that any potential ICE action could have a “chilling effect” on the existing work force, which has reported some Agriprocessors workplace violations in the past. In addition, ICE action could result in employees leaving the plant, interfering with a government investigation that would “ultimately uncover unscrupulous employer acts,” he said.
The union had been trying to organize the plant’s nonunion workers for collective-bargaining purposes, said Jill Cashen, a UFCW spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. Union leaders had alerted state and federal labor officials to allegations Agriprocessors was exploiting underage workers and paying them off the books, she said Monday.
Now that hundreds of Agriprocessors employees have been taken into custody, “how can justice ever be served on these exploitation issues?” Cashen asked
Lauritsen said employers at other workplaces where his union had been organizing have abused ICE’s actions not only to intimidate employees before a National Labor Relations Board election, but also to blame the union for immigration actions.
“With these labor disputes in progress, we urge you to suspend any potentially existing enforcement efforts and refuse to be involved in this labor dispute in accordance with the internal guidance, ‘Questioning Persons During Labor Disputes,’ ” Lauritsen wrote. He said ICE participation had the potential to deprive the workers of their guaranteed protected rights.
ICE spokesman Tim Counts said that the raid “was conducted in full compliance with ICE policies and procedures.”
Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil confirmed a state investigation of possible labor law violations at the Agriprocessors plant was under way. The probe involved alleged violations of wage and child labor laws, he said. “I can’t really get into the specifics,” he said.
Workers, advocates gird for raid
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Waterloo, Ia. — Carole Gustafson came upon one of her fourth-grade students last week, a girl she knew well.
This time, the girl was quiet, uncharacteristically sucking her thumb. Gustafson, a social worker and founder of El Centro Latinoamericano in Waterloo, asked what was wrong.
“She was worried about her mom and dad,” Gustafson said. “She said ‘La Migra is coming.’ “
La Migra, slang for the former federal immigration enforcement agency, has been a widely discussed topic in town among immigrants and immigration rights advocates during the last week.
The rental of a local fairgrounds by federal officials ratcheted up fears of an immigration raid, and advocates are concerned that this eastern Iowa town could serve as the staging ground for a struggle between immigrants, federal enforcement officials and those on either side.
The advocates on Sunday held a Spanish-language information session at a local church and then met at a house south of downtown to discuss what, if anything, they can do for immigrants and their families.
The raid they consider to be impending has not been confirmed by federal officials. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman has declined to comment on activities at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds, which has been leased by the U.S. General Services Administration until May 25.
“There is no publicly releasable information about the exercise,” ICE spokesman Tim Counts said on Sunday.
ICE “is not saying anything, and sending the stress level here high,” said Sol Varisco-Santini of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Des Moines.
Regardless, Varisco-Santini said her organization and others in the state are preparing for a raid. They’ve spoken to representatives of churches and nonprofits in Iowa cities and towns and told them to prepare themselves to contact attorneys, find immigrants’ children and “pick up the pieces.”
Varisco-Santini and other immigration rights advocates fear that the fairgrounds will be used in a similar fashion to how federal officials used Camp Dodge in Johnston, where detainees were held after a December 2006 immigration raid at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown.
A total of 1,282 Swift workers were arrested in Iowa and five other states in the biggest crackdown in history on immigration violations at one company, and last week an ex-union representative who helped illegal workers get jobs at Swift was found guilty of federal immigration charges.
At the fairgrounds on Sunday, there were SUVs, sedans and minivans with license plates from Georgia, Missouri and Washington state.
Officials standing at the gate to the fairgrounds, 257 Ansborough Ave., refused to allow visitors inside.
Varisco-Santini said there were lessons learned from the Marshalltown raid, in which “everything was in chaos.”
“There was misinformation getting out, no one knew where each other was,” Varisco-Santini said.
Should federal officials conduct another raid, Varisco-Santini said local offices and churches will serve as communication centers for families.
The Marshalltown raid was fresh in the memory of Seth Galinsky of the Socialist Worker Party in Des Moines, who came to Waterloo when he heard about the federal officials’ buildup at the fairgrounds.
Galinsky, who now works at the Tyson Foods plant in Perry, said he was a wizard-knife operator in the loin department during the Swift raid.
“They turn the victims into criminals and the criminals into cops,” Galinsky said. “They made us put down the knives and even the mesh gloves. They were scared of us.”
As they brace for a raid they feel is inevitable, Gustafson said immigrants can do nothing but wait.
“There’s no good choices for them,” Gustafson said. “They’re between a rock and a hard place.”
