ICE raid changes Iowa town

Source: Drovers news staff


The small town of Postville Iowa has changed considerably since federal immigration authorities raided its local meatpacking plant last spring, according to a CNN report.

On May 12, about 900 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided the local meat processing plant, Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat packer. ICE removed about 400 illegal immigrants from the plant, and about 300 more who were not working at the time fled the town, which has a population of about 2,400.

Most of the workers who were removed were from Mexico and Guatemala, and were well established in the community, according to the article. The plant, still struggling to build production back to capacity, has since hired immigrants from Somalia, Russia, Ukraine, and the Pacific island nation of Palau, changing the ethnic makeup of the community.

It's a town that's been turned "topsy turvy," says the town’s mayor, Bob Penrod, quoted in the story. "It's been nothing but a freaky nightmare since May."

Read more: http://www.drovers.com/news_editorial.asp?pgID=675&ed_id=4885

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Now where's the good in that?

native Postvillians...(Somalia, Russia, Ukraine, and the Pacific island nation of Palau. . .my my)

~sarcasm~

Child labor laws being flaunted had nothing to do with it. :eyes:

As long as the browns are being paid shitty ass wages and businesses get to ignore all sorts of labor laws so you can have your cheap Wal-Mart crap, you're just fine and dandy with it aren't you?

You're thinking is narrow-minded, you are intentionally ignoring the negative effects on labor caused by illegal immigrants. Why? Are you a hardcore free market capitalist?

And I abhor nationalism in general .

If you are a secular humanist, then you would be against children working and destitute people having their illegal status being taken advantage of by big corporations at the expense of others. Or is that promoted by secular humanists?

by deporting them ? real helpful

You help someone somewhere, you're hurting them somewhere else. Deporting them does not help them, but it does hold corporations accountable for their actions, which can have very positive effects for others. And considering that both the undocumented workers AND the corporations are working outside the law, it makes sense that they should be punished. The corporation has a ton of lawsuits filed against them now.

I would rather that the government of the place those undocumented workers came from are forced to reform by those same workers rather than coming here and becoming pawns for mighty corporations to use them as a way of lowering wages and labor standards.

or your language ...

give them all US passports , companies will have to pay them equal wages then , problem solved.

are sleeping poorly, awaiting the breaking down of their doors.

I am not aware of "Spaniards" sleeping poorly and awaiting the breaking down of their doors.

I am only giving you a hard time because I am sick and tired of me and my ethnicity being referred to with various European identities. I am tired of my culture being disrespected (intentionally or unintentionally) with terms which are Eurocentric. Hispanic is a term equaling Spaniard. Latino is a term equaling southern Europe, or, Latin language based areas of Europe.

Mexican is a term deriving from Mexica (Aztec) and is also associated the cultural groups in and around the valley of Mexico such as the Toltecs, the Teotihuacanos, the Aztecs, etc.

"Mestizo" is a term which can be correctly used in labeling most Mexicans, but, it too is a Eurocentric term because it associates Mexicans with European mix and not just the Mexican culture. For example: Most Jewish people have more European and Russian blood in them than they do ethnic Jewish blood. But nevertheless they are stilled called Jewish and if you try to point out to them that they are European or Russian mix you'll be called antisemitic. Another example: Spanish people are mixed with Arabic blood and a few other races but they are still referred to as Spanish. So why is it then that we have all these different names for my people? Because its the left over idea to try and erase my culture, the native American cultures.

I know you weren't using the term Hispanic with that in mind. I am only pointing this out because I am tired of my culture being disrespected by these Eurocentric terms whether they're used intentionally or unintentionally for that purpose. The result is still the same because they are terms created for just that purpose.

I am a Mexican. My brown skin is proof I am not a Spaniard or south European. These folks who Lou Dobbs enjoys bashing on are Mexicans, Mayan and other Native Americans too. We have just as much pride in our culture and history as white people have with theirs and deserve equal respect.


Thanks Jackpine Radical and I hope you didn't take this the wrong way...



Popol Vuh....

A much needed education for me, living south of Canada
here in Detroit.

:hi:

And you're very welcome. Most folks who are Mexican and other American cultures use these terms too for the same reason why most other people today use them. They just simply haven't thought about it and what the meaning is behind them. There are a lot of us though who try and raise the point to create awareness.

:hi:

I will make others aware in turn.

I just don't get the hatred of them, "illegal" or not (no human being can be illegal)!

I feel the same as you. I don't get the hated of one group of people toward another group of people. It is ignorance that drives bigotry in my opinion because how can anyone not recognize the value and richness of cultural variety as opposed to just mono culturalism.

His father was born in Spain..so technically he was "european", but always identified himself as Cuban :)

Isn't ethnicity a hoot:)

a LOT of houses for sale in Postville (I live in a nearby town).


:(

and not Americans?

With the unemployment rate so high this makes no sense?

Poor countries have systems set up to send out hundreds of citizens to fill rural jobs such as this.

The US of A ignores its poor thus it has no system to organize and transport a labor force to factories in rural areas.

Immigrants from other countries believe in the "one pot" mentality. All the money they make is thrown together and they are happy to house, lend money to, transport their extended family members. Also, they are not as adverse to the traditional occupancy limits of a home that many people who were born in the US are. That's why you have so many Korean, Indian, and Arab grocery store owners. They do not take out traditional loans to buy those businesses, they are lent the money by their family.

seriously, you're posting about how a town had to adapt to changing ethnicities and expecting us to be sympathetic

good fucking luck on that one

From the article:

It is behind the plant's gates that the federal and state governments contend crimes occurred -- with the company using illegal immigrants as its primary workers.

"It appears, based on 2007 fourth-quarter payroll reports, that approximately 76 percent of the 968 employees of Agriprocessors were using false or fraudulent Social Security numbers in connection with their employment," ICE alleges in its affidavit.

Separately, the state has filed more than 9,000 misdemeanor charges against the owners and managers at Agriprocessors -- including the owner Rubashkin -- accusing them of child labor law violations.

The criminal complaint, filed by the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, says the violations involved 32 youths under the age of 18, including seven under the age of 16.

Health and Safety for workers at Agriprocessors? Postville plant have been a matter of concern to the public since the Jewish Daily Forward made public alleged problems at the plant in their May 2006 article ?In Iowa Meat Plant, Kosher 'Jungle' Breeds Fear, Injury, Short Pay,? an article for which its writer was nominated for a 2007 Gerald Loeb Award journalism award. The article exposed concerns about workplace issues at the plant including poor or no training, low wages, poor bathroom and cafeteria conditions and dangerous working conditions.

http://www.eyeonagriprocessors.org/?zone=view_page.cfm&page=Health202620Safety

No wonder the plant isn't hiring American workers but instead hiring a destitute labor force from poor countries.

It's a story with so many facets -- very difficult to sum up with one post or one news report.

If you'd like to see my series of 80+ stories on it --
http://iowaindependent.com/?s=Agriprocessors

And, if anyone has specific questions that someone on the ground in Iowa might be able to answer, you can post them here or PM me. (Note: I've got a series of appointments today -- including covering a rally with Gov. Dean -- so I may not immediately answer.)

Thanks so much for the link.

Just scanning through the headline reveals so many wrongs here. I heard about the story of Jews having a problem with a Kosher factory where they were talking about starting a social contract but wasn't aware this story and that story were one and the same. I see from your articles, Rabbis were overseeing the Kosher aspects of the factory. That fact wasn't mentioned in the slave labor story I heard about on the BBC.

Your story on how just days after the raid the factory went back to Guatemala to get replacement workers is mindbogglingly revealing the limitlessness of their audacity. The owners really don't believe they will be punished do they.

Bookmarking the site for further reading. Thanks for your work.

Covering it has been kinda like a roller coaster ride. The raid, the previous investigations, the plant owners, the town, the culture issues surrounding it all, the child labor charges, the safety charges, PETA's videos, etc.

Oh, and props to my co-worker Douglas, who wrote the story (along with the editor of an Iowa Spanish newspaper) about the ads in Guatemala.

The plant owners... that's an interesting group.

The plant is owned by the Rubashkin family, a group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews who have had their fair share of legal issues. For instance, one of the son's will be sentenced next month in a case involving storage of hazardous waste at a family-owned textile plant in Pennsylvania -- one that burned in a series of mysterious fires. (The same son already did time for bank fraud and, afterward, was elected as president of the Crowne Heights Jewish Community Council in Brooklyn -- a group that receives and administers millions in government funds.)

There are also several political ties --

A son-in-law, Milton Yehoshua Balkany, was well known for his practice of bundling campaign contributions and was later charged of misusing more than half a million in HUD grant monies that were intended for the Jewish school he led. (He struck a restitution deal and was never prosecuted.)

The family is often represented/protected by Nathan Lewin, who is the attorney that argued that former Pres. Nixon should be paid by the government for the rights to his papers and tapes. He also represented Jodie Foster in relation to John Hinckley, the Foster-stalker who shot former Pres. Reagan.

There are also numerous campaign contributions -- national and local.

Following the stories has been a challenge because I'm always questioning how far I want to leap into the rabbit hole.

This is almost exactly like a company town operation where the employees are beholden to the family even for lodging.

So this factory owner family receives taxpayer money. Sounds like the typical GOPer elite we have running this country these days.

From your reports on the Palau currently working there, it doesn't appear they will be talking to outsiders if the factory's slave-like conditions continue.

I am of the opinion that it servers two purposes as far as the powers at be are concerned. Number one: Looking at what's happening in the world's banking systems which I have warned people about ten years now. I believe that these increased actions being taken to round up and deport people are in kin to what they're doing on the banking side of the equation. They are intentionally trying to crash our economy to the point where we'll except their solution. At first a trilateral system (European Union/North American Union/Asia Union), then a one world system. Also known as the New World Order.

So these intensified actions on cheap labor is to further destabilize our economic situation with the added benefit of satisfying people's appetite for scapegoating and other people's bigotry.

had to hire immigrants from other countries outside of Central America to replace them, why oh why couldn't those people who were deported been given Green Cards instead making them legal? It goes to show what stupidity mindless racism accomplishes.

Everything to do with wanting to keep low labor standards and wages. Everything.

welcomed here in the USA. I'm sure from the POV of the processing plants it has everything to do with low labor standards and wages, but if they didn't get the approval of the populace at large, there wouldn't be any raids by the INS nor a new group of immigrants imported for that purpose.

If it's racism, why replace all the workers with people racists supposedly hate? It's not. It's economics, pure and simple. Even legal immigrants are better to have for a low-life corporation than American citizens, as they're less likely to be aware of their rights or labor standards or to organize.

If they aren't paying well enough to attract local legal workers they should not be in business.

I'm sick of hearing about the "global economy". To me it means "race to the bottom". We need to support workers, strengthen the middle class, and see if we can encourage the same to happen in Mexico and other countries.

Reject free trade in favor of fair trade.

They would get non-illegal people to move to that town and work if they paid a decent wage.

This isn't like one or two illegals slipped through. That's a company that will continue to pay the worst wages and prey off of societies working marginalized - the immigrants being the most marginalized. I noticed they managed to find more immigrants but not the average American. There is something very wrong with their pay and benefits.

Bet you all of the managers and bosses are at least 2nd generation Americans.

This news article is a ploy - sure we feel bad for the Spanish illegals, but they want to use them for nefarious reason. That company has no problem acting illegally by hiring them. If they were paid a decent wage they could save enough to go back to Mexico/Guatamala and apply for a Visa and become legal.

Spanish Immigrants should have a healthy mix into the regular US labor force where they can work their way up. Not be used in dead in jobs. If they're illegal then they really do need to be held to the same rules we put on all immigrants of all countries coming to this country - for their own benefit. They get used by companies like this meat packing plant if they don't.

I'm not buying into the sob story of that town is suffering etc. The problem is the corporation that nearly only hired illegals. Were the company held to higher standards, the workers wouldn't have been deported/run away, and this wouldn't be an issue. As it's stands that place is a 3rd world employer who doesn't plan on changing but instead tries to make everyone else feel bad for going after it's practices.

Child labor, inhumane treatment of animals, lousy safety conditions, underpaid and exploited workers.

They should arrest the owners, not the workers.