5/13/2008: Security News Brief: 300 Illegals Arrested in Iowa Meat
Processing Plant:
Federal immigration agents raided a northeastern Iowa meat processing
plant Monday, arresting more than 300 people and housing many of them
at a converted fairgrounds.
The raid of the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville was the largest
in state history and had been planned for months, said U.S. Attorney
Matt M. Dummermuth.
The raid, one of several conducted at meat-processing plants around
the country in recent years, was aimed at seeking evidence of identity
theft, stolen Social Security numbers and people who are in the
country illegally, ICE spokesman Tim Counts said.
Authorities arrived at the Agriprocessors plant about 10 a.m. and
presented company officials with search warrants. Agents asked to
speak with all the employees, and plant officials cooperated and shut
down their operations.
Agriprocessors, the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant, did not
immediately return messages seeking comment.
Of those arrested, 44 were released for humanitarian reasons,
primarily because they must care for children. They were ordered to
re****t to court later.
Others arrested were held in local jails or driven by bus about 75
miles to tem****ary housing at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds
in Waterloo. Federal authorities previously leased the fairgrounds and
have turned it into a secure center.
Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun at St. Bridget's Catholic
Church in Postville, said family members of plant workers came to the
nearby church in tears after immigration agents arrived in buses, vans
and two helicopters.
"The people right now are hearing and seeing the helicopters,"
McCauley said Monday morning. "They are just panic-stricken and very
frightened and some of them are coming to the church as a safe haven."
McCauley 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.
Counts, the ICE spokesman, said a toll-free telephone number had been
set up to assist family members of those arrested who have questions
about their detention status and the removal process.
Asked about the raid during a Monday news conference, Gov. Chet Culver
said both illegal immigrants and companies that knowingly hire them
should be prosecuted.
"Illegal means illegal, not just those who are crossing the border
illegally but those who are responsible for helping to make it
happen," Culver said. He added that it is also im****tant to consider
humanitarian concerns and had raised those issue with immigration
authorities.
The governor said he'd been told last week there would be some kind of
federal action.
Source: Morning Security News Brief via Internal Company News Wire
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