On May 12th, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted the single-largest immigration raid in U.S. history in the town of Postville, Iowa. During the raid at Agriprocessors, Inc., the largest kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in the country, ICE agents detained 390 people and eventually arrested and charged almost 300. While Agriprocessors had been cited for extensive labor and safety violations^[1], the targets of the raid were immigrant workers from Mexico and Guatemala.

Although the vast majority of workers had no criminal record, they were charged with criminal identity theft and sentenced to 5 months in jail before being deported. As the account of legal interpreter Erik Camayd-Freixas demonstrates, detained immigrants generally did not understand or were prevented from exercising their rights.^[2] The raids had a profound social and economic impact on the small town of Postville, since almost one-third of the town's population was arrested during the ICE operation. A number of those detained had children, many of whom were U.S. citizens. As a result of immigration raids, children are separated from one or both parents and are often traumatized, and as parents face deportation there is a danger that families will be permanently torn apart.^[3]

References:

1. Julia Preston, “Iowa Rally Protests Raid and Conditions at Plant” July 28, 2008

2. Congressional Testimony of Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas July 2008

3. The Urban Institute, “Paying the Price: the Impact on Immigration Raids on America’s Children” 2007

Back to list of articles