Small town Iowa struggles after immigration raid

[marmar]

AP, via Yahoo!:



Small town Iowa struggles after immigration raid
Sunday August 17, 5:34 am ET
By Monica Rhor, Associated Press Writer

Aftermath of immigration raid: People gone, identity in flux, and unique Iowa town struggles


POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) -- A vague unease whispered through this tiny town in northeastern Iowa, where the rolling hills are a study in vivid colors -- red barns, white clapboard houses, and vibrant green cornfields plowed with almost architectural precision.

It drifted through Postville's downtown, where restaurants serving tamales share three short blocks with El Vaquero clothing store, a kosher food market and the Spice-N-Ice Liquor and Redemption store.

It nagged at Irma Rucal that Monday morning after Mother's Day weekend, as the Guatemalan immigrant worked her regular shift salting chickens at Agriprocessors, the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant and Postville's biggest employer.

Then, just after 10 a.m., that insistent murmur burst to the surface with a frantic shout: "La Migra! Salvese el que pueda!" Immigration! Save yourself if you can.

The bulk of the plant's 900 workers -- mostly Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants -- dashed out doors, through hallways and into corners, trying to escape federal agents conducting what would be the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080817/after_the_raid.html

[Saturday]

1. Sorry, but I don't feel sorry for illegals whose lives are interrupted.nt

[marmar]

2. Maybe you should try seeing them as people first rather than "illegals" .......

.... Whether or not you think they should be in the country, I don't see how anyone couldn't at least empathize with their situation. But that's just me.

[ixion]

4. yeah, that whole "illegals" thing is being taken too seriously

and this comes from a tech worker who has had his work environment affected by people from other countries.

I really don't think destroying their lives is a positive step towards coming to a solution. There is a symbiotic relationship between migrant works and our society. That is to say, we need them as they need us.

[Saturday]

8. I have sympathy for the Americans whose jobs have been

taken by those you feel sympathy for. I feel sympathy for the children of THOSE people who no longer work due to the influx of illegals. I feel sorry for the children of those whose jobs are now lower paying because of the influx of illegals willing to work for slave wages. I feel sorry for the illegals who are treated as slaves. But that's just me.

[truedelphi]

20. It is NOT just you. Mother Jones magazine

Said the same thing when it wrote about the situation perhaps a decade ago.

That Mother jones. The Progressive magazine.

Meat packing industry used to pay its workers between $ 15 and $ 28 an hour. OSHA regulations used to be followed. But with liberals wanting to let unlimitedimmigration occur, and Republican-industry owners wanting cheap labor, with no regulations as to safety, our country is slipping into third world status.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Referring to them as 'illegals' is a big clue

Do you reserve similar disdain for the corporations who have fostered economic immigration on a grand scale? Are these corporations 'illegals' as well?

[Saturday]

7. FYI I have even more disdain for the corporations. nt

[baldguy]

17. They are Human Beings first

Second, they are men & women trying to feed their children. The fact that they're "illegal" in the eyes of a system of laws designed to keep the powerful in power & the wealthy in wealth - and the bigots that are incapable of viewing them any other way - is an insignificant point.

Our government is threating people like animals to be exterminated. And you're paying for it just like the rest of us. Does this make you proud?

[a la izquierda]

18. If you haven't already...

go visit Mexico sometime. I seriously doubt that you've ever been, and I don't mean to the tourist shitholes of Cancun and TJ. You want to understand why Mexicans come to the US? Take a look around Mexico. The poverty is absolutely astounding. Poor people here have absolutely no hope. But they want to work. And so they leave their families and they go to the only places they can, to the jobs in the US, where they're exploited for shit wages. And where they're threatened with the fear of deportation back to the hopeless existence they came from. The government of Mexico does nothing for them, and they're powerless (like we are here) to change the situation.

Then, multiply that misery by 1000 for Guatemala and El Salvador, and the rest of Central America (except maybe Costa Rica, which thrives on tourist dollars).

I'd like someone to barge in and interrupt your precious life. Disgusting.

[Two Americas]

19. horrible

That attitude is just horrible. Shame on you. What other people do you not "feel sorry for," and what sorts of "interruptions" in "their" lives do you not have a problem with?

"Lives disrupted. People pushed out of jobs and homes. Children separated from parents. Businesses verging towards collapse."

"A lot of good workers were taken away, a lot of good families are gone."

"We are grieving, scared, apprehensive."

[babylonsister]

3. Rounding people up; what does that remind you of? There's got

to be a better, more humane way to do this.

[Kansas Wyatt]

10. Prosecute, imprison, & heavily fine those employing "illegal workers"

Then, nobody will hire them anymore and they have to go back to their country on their own, because they cannot afford to stay here.... Problem solved, and "illegal workers" are not rounded up, so those who do not give a damn about American workers hurt by "illegal workers" are not outraged. They pay for their own ticket home, as opposed to the expense of the American worker/taxpayer.

[Daveparts]

6. Why do you think the Immigrants Came?

The affects of so called free trade have devestated the economies of Central America.

"Lives disrupted. People pushed out of jobs and homes. Children separated from parents. Businesses verging towards collapse."

Poor businesses that must struggle on by hiring illegals. The key word here is illegal. I can't raise hogs in my back yard even if I need the food it's illegal! I can't sell drugs on the street corner because I need the money it's illegal. I can't rob the bank because I need the money it's illegal! When you hire someone not in this country legally you are giving them something that they are not entitlied to.

Mexican employers who hire illegal workers can face jail time.

[Canuckistanian]

9. And yet STILL no punishment for the EMPLOYERS?

If this is an illegal act then why aren't the employers being fined or imprisoned?

After all, the "illegals" wouldn't be in the town at all if not for the companies that hire them.

You want to solve the "illegal immigration" problem? Then start enforcing the employment laws.

And if there are companies that DEPEND on immigrants, then set up a special work visa program, where employers take care of the immigrants and there is a time limit.

[closeupready]

11. Are you kidding? They paid a good price for our government.

They are our overlords.

[libodem]

12. If they are 'lured' here by the companies

the said companies should be helping them get green cards and to start applying for citizenship or work visas or whatever. I hate this whole raiding and rounding up routine. It sounds so UN-American to me. This bothers me on a deep visceral level and people who think other humans 'deserve' this type of treatment are deplorable or uninformed. It's WRONG. There has to be another way.

[Saturday]

13. Enforcing a law is "raiding and rounding up"? nt

[COLGATE4]

14. Raiding and Rounding up is selective enforcement

Don't forget that being in the country as an indocumented person is a civil, not criminal offense. Raids and rounding up are as disproportionate to this type of civil offense as they would be for raiding and rounding up people who had not paid their traffic or parking tickets. I doubt that you would condone this type of police overreach, but you seem to believe it's OK as long as it only affects "them".

[psychmommy]

15. this has been going on since the 1970's near as i can

tell. immigration used to conduct raids back then. they just stopped and now they started back up it seems so horrible. i think the undocumented worker issue shines the spotlight on our lack of homeland security. there are millions of untraceable people here and we are doing nothing about it. how many terrorists could have slipped in also. people have been arrested all along they were given a court date and no follow up. perhaps it was the biggest raid in us history because employers wouldn't dare have a plant full of undocumented workers. they would be interspersed with american or documented employees. now i do have a problem with incarcerating people and not deporting them. why are we housing and feeding them-send them home. there are towns in mexico full of women, children and the elderly-the men are here. sometimes they continue to take care of their families and sometimes they don't. this has an effect on both sides of the border. also take into consideration the folks waiting to come here legally. a friends mom in law was sick in guatemala. she has young kids and a husband at home-no reason to stay. but, she couldn't get a temporary visa. her son works here he is a legal resident and was going to finance her health care. we need to look at this issue from all sides.

[libodem]

16. Yep

it is. And I hate it.