Immigration officials raid Agriprocessors in Postville

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By Waterloo Courier | Monday, May 12, 2008 8:52 PM CDT | () comments

Several large buses were brought into the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo, Iowa, this morning, surrounded by immigration officials. No people had been removed from the buses by 1 p.m. Earlier in the day, immigration officials had conducted a raid on the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa. (JEFF REINITZ / Waterloo Courier) Buy this Photo

WATERLOO, Iowa — Federal immigration agents raided the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant in Postville, arresting about 300 people Monday in the largest immigration enforcement in Iowa history.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the northeast Iowa plant about 10 a.m., looking for evidence of identity theft, use of stolen Social Security numbers and for people who are in the country illegally, Tim Counts, an ICE spokesman, said.

The raid was the largest such operation in the state’s history, said Matt M. Dummermuth, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. The raid at the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant came after months of planning, he said.

The detainees were taken about 75 miles away to the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo, where agents had set up an “intake center,” said Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman.

Men will be held there until at least Thursday, while female detainees were housed in local jails.

An ICE spokeswoman said about 300 people were detained, but about 40 were quickly released for “humanitarian reasons,” so they could care for their children. They will still face immigration proceedings, officials said.

All the people taken into custody would be interviewed by ICE agents and public health officers to find out if they have health, caregiver or humanitarian concerns, the U.S. Justice Department said in a release. The detainees will be fed three meals a day, plus an evening snack.

Those arrested will face criminal and civil charges, including identity theft, improper use of Social Security data and other crimes.

“ICE is committed to enforcing the nation’s immigration laws in the workplace to maintain the integrity of the immigration system,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of Monday’s raid and the ICE Office of Investigations based in Bloomington, Minn.

About 1,000 to 1,050 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Sholom Rubashkin, Agriprocessors vice president, declined to release any information about the raid.

“Right now, there is no comment,” Rubashkin said.

According to an affidavit and search warrant, authorities relied heavily on an informant who infiltrated the plant with documents provided by ICE. The informant was hired in January and wore recording devices monitored by ICE.

The informant allegedly witnessed a system where some employees were paid in cash or with checks that did not have Agriprocessors’ name on them.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa will be temporarily relocated to Waterloo to make it easier for the families of those arrested and because of the scope of the operation, the Justice Department said. Courtrooms in Cedar Rapids and Sioux City weren’t big enough to hold and process those arrested.

Jeff Giertz, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, said ICE officials notified Braley’s office about a half-hour after the raid had started.

ICE described the raid as a “targeted enforcement action,” Giertz said. “Basically they explained it, they’d been investigating whatever violations in advance and they were looking for specific people.”

Giertz said his office was told as many as 600 to 700 people could be detained. It was unclear if that many people would be arrested or merely detained until authorities could confirm their identities.

ICE officials told Braley’s office that the National Cattle Congress was being used as a processing center.

A flurry of activity took place there Monday. At 12:25 p.m., a Homeland Security helicopter landed on the grounds. Buses were on the grounds of Agriprocessors and the National Cattle Congress.

Federal officials earlier this month set up dozens of trailers, generators and other equipment at the grounds, sparking fears in Waterloo and northeast Iowa that an immigration raid was in the works. Facility officials said last week they were told the space was rented for a training exercise.

Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville, told The Associated Press family members of plant workers were coming to the nearby church in tears.

“The people right now are hearing and seeing the helicopters,” McCauley said. “They are just panic-stricken and very frightened and some of them are coming to the church as a safe haven.”

The church is about five blocks from the plant.

She said rumors began swirling around the community on Friday about an upcoming raid, leaving many people worried. She said immigration officials arrived Monday with buses, vans and two helicopters.

She said she went to the plant to help provide information and assist workers but was not allowed to get close.

“Some of the people that are going to be detained are up against a fence and now they’re tying their hands,” she said.

Many of the plant workers are Hispanic, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, she said.

On Sunday, an immigrant rights workshop — put on in response to fears of a possible raid — drew several hundred people at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Waterloo. El Centro Latinoamericano, a resource center in Waterloo, hastily organized the event after being flooded with calls about rumors of an immigration raid.

The unrest started last week after news spread about the temporary base at the National Cattle Congress.

Local leaders and several immigrant rights organizations from Des Moines put on the presentation, which outlined the constitutional rights of every person, regardless of legal status.

They handed out a detailed, wide-ranging survey that asked questions about who should take custody of children in case of arrest and if they desire legal assistance. People also received a “Rights Card” to hand to authorities in case of arrest. It states the card-holder chooses to exercise the right to remain silent, and lists a contact number of an organization or attorney of choice.

Sol Varisco-Santini, program coordinator for Des Moines-based Catholic Charities, said the organized effort draws on lessons learned from a 2006 raid on a Swift meat processing plant in Marshalltown.

By collecting lots of information from people and informing them of their rights, immigrant advocates hope to avoid some of the human rights violations they believe occurred during the Marshalltown raids. During the raid, Varisco-Santini said, reports of detainees not receiving food or water were not unusual.

“(Illegal immigrants) do have their rights, and a lot of people don’t know that,” she said. “There’s a lot of panic, and we wanted to help calm them.”

Feelings of unease spread beyond Latino communities in northeast Iowa. Varisco-Santini said Hispanics in Des Moines and other areas also expressed fear, particularly because federal officials were so tight-lipped about their intentions at the National Cattle Congress. Immigrant advocates from as far away as California also are monitoring the situation through list-servs and online news reports.

Carole Gustafson, a board member at El Centro Latinoamericano, said the meeting was crucial because immigrants raised in other countries often come from a culture in which authority figures are never questioned.

“In their country, you don’t argue with authority figures. You don’t have rights,” she said. “So if a boss says, all the Latinos come with me … it’s kind of like leading sheep to slaughter. That’s what was so important about today.”

(The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier is a Lee Enterprises newspaper. This story also includes reports from The Associated Press.)

Hot line

A toll-free hotline was set up by immigration officials for family and friends of those taken into custody at (866) 341-3858.