Immigrant Rights and American Values: Postville, Iowa Revisited by Tracy Kurowski [A
week of discussion on the Postville raids begins tonight. See schedule
below.]
Are we as a Nation willing to accept mass raids, arrests and
the detainment of human beings in a cattle warehouse, as an American
value?
It’s been almost two years since Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) committed what was then the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history at the Agriprocessors Plant in Postville, Iowa. Nine hundred officers from ICE swept into the Jewish kosher slaughterhouse arresting 390 men, women and children who worked at the plant, 306 of whom were ultimately held for prosecution.
The raid was so large that by the next day, one third of the town had disappeared, and in the days that followed, general panic ensued. American born children of the immigrants, as well as the undocumented, failed to show up to school for fear of arrest. Hundreds of men, women and children sought sanctuary in St. Bridget’s Catholic Church. Still others simply fled town.
Mothers who were released by ICE so they could care for their unattended children, were forced to wear ankle bracelets and remain under house arrest. Those women were prevented from working and could no longer provide for their families. They depended on the mercy of St. Bridget’s and others who provided charity so they and their children could eat. Stores were closed down across the small town, and school administrators and city officials began to wonder how they were going to pay their bills, now that the number of students and residents had declined overnight.
After the raid, ICE bused the arrested en masse to be detained and to appear before a federal magistrate at an ad hoc facility set up at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo. County officials later claimed they were misled about the nature of the use of their fairgrounds, where later that year cattle would be brought for the perennial rural American county fair tradition. County officials were led to believe that Homeland Security was going to use the fairgrounds for training exercises.
What instead happened was as shocking then as it remains today. Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, who was one of the federal interpreters hired to work at the subsequent arraignments held at the Waterloo National Cattle Congress, will return to Eastern Iowa this week to discuss his experiences. Before his very eyes, Dr. Camayd-Freixas saw mostly indigenous Guatemalans brought in groups of ten to be tried for not only the civil offense of illegal immigration, but for the much more serious criminal charge of identity theft:
"Driven single-file in groups of ten, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before being marched out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of ten." Link
Thanks to the organizing efforts of the six congregations of Catholic Sisters and colleges and universities in our region, Dr. Camayd-Freixas will lead a discussion titled, Immigrant Rights and American Values.
The presentations are all free, open to the public and pre-registration is not required:
Monday, March 8th: The Canticle, 841 13th Ave. North, Clinton, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 9: University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls: 2:00 p.m. in the UNI Center for Multicultural Education (109 Maucker Union) and 7:00 p.m. at St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center (1019 W. 23rd St.).
Wednesday, March 10: Noon at Iowa City Foreign Affairs Council and at 7:00 pm. at Mount Mercy College at Basile Hall, Flaherty Community Room, 1330 Elmhurst Drive, Cedar Rapids.
Thursday, March 11: Clarke College, Jansen Music Hall in the Atrium, 1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, 7 p.m.
When he spoke out about the miscarriage of justice, Dr. Camayd-Freixas did something rare among professional interpreters. But what he witnessed so moved him that within months he had written a profound essay. He also wrote an OPED for the New York Times, directing national attention to the events in Eastern Iowa that the press had already since forgotten. He has since written more essays and appeared before Congress to answer questions raised about the raid.
Regardless of how one feels about immigration, what occurred in the days after the ICE raid in Postville and the damage done to the entire community since – to both the American born and the immigrants – is a shameful episode in how not to deal with American immigration.
It’s hard to imagine with the degraded nature of civic discourse today, that our country is in any mood to deal with immigration. Health care hangs in the balance, job losses continue to drive more and more families to the brink of poverty, and the two wars we fight on the other side of the planet continue to drain resources, cause untold deaths and return soldiers home with physical and emotional scars.
Yet this is a discussion that as a country of immigrants, in a world where gym shoes and television sets have more rights to cross borders than human beings, we have no choice but to bring into the light of day. Ignoring the issue won’t make it go away, but it may encourage other heartless bureaucrats to repeat the horrors of May 12, 2008.
Are we as a nation willing to accept mass raids and arrests, and detainment of human beings in a cattle warehouse, as an American value?
Tracy
Kurowski has been active in the labor movement
for ten years, first as a member of AFSCME 3506, when she taught adult
education classes at the City Colleges of Chicago. She moved to the
Quad Cities in 2007 where she worked as political coordinator with the
Quad City Federation of Labor, and as a caseworker for Congressman
Bruce Braley from 2007 - 2009.
Tracy Kurowski writes a labor update every
Monday on Blog for Iowa
Part Three of a series on labor and immigration in Iowa
"I remember looking at the driver’s license photo, looking at the
person and saying to him that the picture on the license looked
nothing like him. The applicant opened his briefcase and laid out half a
dozen different photos and said 'if you don’t like that one, which one do you
like.'"
The front edge of the
struggle for an employer to comply with the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Service rules is where I worked for many years. We had started an
owner operator division for our trucking company and we leased trucks and
drivers from owners to supplement our company employee driver fleet. During
this time, I met people of all backgrounds, and what I noticed was that many
applicants who were immigrants were much better capitalized than most of the
U.S. Citizens we interviewed. We often favored immigrant owner operators
because of their reputation for excellent service and fewer issues during the
conduct of our operations. They wanted to do their work and be left alone, and
for us, that was positive.
Part of our process was to
bring the trucks and drivers to Iowa for orientation. We inspected the trucks,
signed the lease agreement, trained people on our company policy and procedure
and verified their eligibility to work in the United States. During one such
session, I remember looking at the driver’s license photo, looking at the
person and saying to him that the picture on the license looked
nothing like him. The applicant opened his briefcase and laid out half a
dozen different photos and said “if you don’t like that one, which one do you
like.” The implication was that another fake identification card could be easily
obtained and that I would accept it. We sent this fellow and his co-driver back
to California without leasing them on. For us, verification of eligibility to
work in the United States was not some abstract technicality that could be
pencil whipped into compliance. Working with unauthorized immigrants like I did
was just another part of everyday life.
Immigration has already
become an issue in the 2nd Congressional district Republican primary
race. One of the candidates recently laid out his stance on illegal immigration
policy as follows, “No amnesty, our borders need to be
secured, enforce the laws, and throw the employers who hire the illegals in
jail. We have immigration laws for a reason.” While this almost fits on Twitter,
and is full of lightning rod language, it is a throwback to the corporate media
debate on immigration in 2007. It is an example of how some politicians do not
understand the realities of the United States economy or why we should just let
immigrants in. The laws that should be enforced are those like the ones my
company faced regarding verification of immigrant status. If the Rubashkin
family had been held to account on eligibility to work compliance from the
beginning, the word "Postville" would have a much different meaning than it does
today.
According to the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), there were 31,220,000 foreign born immigrants in
the United States in January 2009. Of these, 20,470,000 people are legally
resident and the remainder is what DHS calls “unauthorized immigrants.”
According to DHS,
the unauthorized immigrant population living in the United States decreased to
10.8 million in January 2009 due to the downturn in the United States economy. Of
all unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2009, 63 percent
entered before 2000, and 62 percent were from Mexico. While the corporate media
shows us a constant stream of images of people crossing our border, the truth
is that the majority of unauthorized immigrants have been here for many years.
In being here they make important contributions to the United States economy.
As has been previously reported in Blog for Iowa, unauthorized immigrants
in Iowa pay federal and state taxes estimated between $40 million and $62
million per year. Because of their status, unauthorized immigrants receive
fewer services, being ineligible for Medicaid, Social Security and other social
programs. What this means is that unauthorized immigrants produce a net gain to
the economy by working and paying taxes. This runs contrary to the assertions
of conservative pundits that unauthorized immigrants are a drain on social
services. In fact, they help support it for the rest of us.
In a recently published article in Health
AffairsJim P. Stimpson, et. al.concluded, “that
health care expendituresfor the average immigrant have not been a
growing problem relativeto expenditures among U.S. natives. The one
exception appears to be that non-citizens havea significantly
greater proportion of uncompensated and charitycare than
naturalized citizens or U.S. natives. However, thisfinding likely
reflects non-citizens’ poor access to careand low socioeconomic
status.” In study
after study, the evidence supports the idea that unauthorized immigrants did
not create the drain on health care spending asserted in the corporate media. Ronald
Reagan and George W. Bush understood the benefits of unauthorized immigrants to
the U.S. economy. So does President Obama.
One
of the administration initiatives is to “bring people out of the shadows.”
supporting “a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in
good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for
the opportunity to become citizens.” This policy addresses the issue of long
standing residents who are unauthorized immigrants. We should support this policy,
even if some believe it does not go far enough.
Like with many things, the
solution to dealing with unauthorized immigrants for Iowans is personal. We
must acknowledge that unauthorized immigrants exist in the state and
demonstrate tolerance appropriate to their status as neighbors. We should follow the ideal that seeking the welfare of one is seeking the welfare of all.
Employers should be required to follow the law regarding verification of eligibility to work and government funded social service agencies should continue to comply with eligibility requirements. However; more than anything, we should just
let them in.
Iowans Talk about SJR2001 and the Traditional Family
by Paul Deaton
"This discussion is not
about traditional marriage, it is about the decimation of the middle class
brought on by the policies of President Ronald Reagan."
Last summer, at the lineup for a parade during our town
festival, the local Catholic priest walked up to our state representative and
asked for his position on “protecting the traditional family.” It was a
confusing question, and behind it was the question whether or not the elected
official would support a change in the Iowa constitution to define “marriage”
as “between a man and a woman.” When the representative said he would not
support such a change, the priest said in a loud voice, “Then I will do everything
I can to defeat you in the next election.”
A few minutes later, the priest brought over a member
of the Knights of Columbus to say that he felt he did not have a say in the
Iowa Supreme Court decision to overturn the 1998 law with this definition of
marriage. He explained that enabling the schools to recognize the validity of
what he called “non-traditional marriage” was undue pressure on him as a
working person trying to raise a traditional family.
The irony is that many of the members of the
Knights of Columbus in our town register their party preference as Republican
and it was a Republican president who initiated the social change that puts
pressure on working families of every political party. This discussion is not
about traditional marriage, it is about the decimation of the middle class
brought on by the policies of President Ronald Reagan.
Many of us are familiar with the film Roger and Me,
by the Flint, Michigan native and film maker Michael Moore. The film depicts
the human impact of auto plant closures on Flint natives during the late 1980s.
The closing of Buick City and other automobile manufacturing plants in Flint
was just a small slice of what the Reagan presidency did for working class
people. I experienced Flint, Michigan during the Reagan years first hand.
After the auto plants closed in Flint, I made a trip there to recruit truck drivers
from some of the 25% of the community that was unemployed. While we paid less
than what the auto workers had made, we found many takers for our non-union
jobs.
In that union town, people did not like non-union companies replacing the UAW
jobs. Protesters showed up when any company recruiting non-union workers came
to offer employment. I ran into these protesters more than once. One night the
four tires on my vehicle were slashed while I gave a presentation to a group of
about 25 people. I fixed the tires, went home and came back the next month
because I felt that eventually the bitterness would subside and economic needs
would drive people to take a job with a US company. I was wrong about that. The
way of life for many of the people I met was just plain gone.
We don’t often hear this part of the story of the
Reagan Revolution. It is a story about the internationalization of the auto
industry specifically and corporate America in general. It is a story about
moving production of goods to foreign lands where the cost of raw
materials, labor and government regulation favored making our automobiles,
washers and clothing. It is a story about when Mexico became too expensive, the
jobs moved to China and Southeast Asia, leaving behind a push that brings Mexican
immigrants to the United States to take jobs our citizens don’t want to support
their families. The Reagan years were harsh on families and created the roots
of the world in which we live today.
This week, Iowa SJR 2001, “A Joint Resolution proposing
an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa
specifying marriage between one man and one woman as the only legal union that
is valid or recognized in the state,” failed
to get the support needed to pass in the Iowa legislature. I suspect we have not seen the last of this
debate in our communities.
The sooner we recognize that the debate is not about
the definition of marriage, but about the policies of our government and the
pressure these policies put on the middle class, the sooner we will stop
pointing blame at each other and work together to fix the society that started
breaking, partly as a result of the Ronald Reagan presidency.
If Washington is broken, then this work belongs to each
of us.
A Story of Jobs, Immigration and the Reagan Revolution in Iowa by Paul Deaton
Part One of a series on labor and immigration in Iowa
Because
of the complexity of the labor and immigration relationship, Blog for
Iowa will make regular posts on this issue during the coming
weeks. The relationship between the decline in the number of jobs and immigration is easy to see in Iowa. The state continues to issue permits for workers to come from Mexico to pick melons and strawberries and prune apple trees and grape vines. These jobs have few benefits, but the hourly wage is competitive with factory work in urban centers like Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs and Sioux City. Many of the same Mexican workers come year after year to places like Conesville and Williamsburg, providing growers with a stable, well trained work force. Most of the money earned is paid through an intermediary, or “job broker” and immigrant workers take most, if not all of their earnings back to Mexico to support their extended families. We will know the Iowa economy is really hurting when someone makes an issue that these well paying, seasonal jobs should be going to Iowans.
Those of us who have worked in the meatpacking industry have witnessed the evolution of workforce in Iowa. I made $4.04 per hour when I worked at Oscar Mayer & Sons in Davenport during my summer break from college in 1971. At those wages, plus overtime, I was able to fund the entire following year of school expenses not paid by my scholarship from Oscar Mayer.
None of my high school friends had difficulty finding factory work that summer if they wanted it, as Davenport was a manufacturing center, and Case, International Harvester, John Deere and many other businesses needed summer help.
My co-workers at Oscar Mayer were people much like my parents: union members and living a reasonable life with their pay and benefits. Even though Iowa is a right to work state, when given the choice at my hiring event, we all joined the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America Local 431.
There were a few Hispanic workers and they were friends and seemed no different from the rest of us, trying to meet our economic needs. In a nation of immigrants, working for a family business, a lot of Oscar Mayer’s workers’ families had immigrated before the 20th century.
We hear a lot these days about the Reagan revolution. During the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president, there was a transformation of American business and the meatpacking industry was part of this. This transformation was particularly hard on working families, as companies grew and consolidated their operations.
Meatpacking continued to require a local workforce, but large operators like Iowa Beef Processors were building very large slaughter operations in Western Iowa and in South Dakota. Eventually, slaughter operations for cattle and hogs were consolidated. The plant where I had worked in college later eliminated the kill floor and used swinging (transported by truck on meat hooks) and boxed animal carcasses to make Oscar Mayer products with a reduced workforce. With the Reagan revolution began the exodus of United States jobs to Mexico and overseas, where labor was less expensive and there was less government regulation. This era saw the rise in large, international conglomerates that evaluated costs of production in a global paradigm. What began with the departure of jobs from the United States during the Reagan administration continues today.
In Iowa, the meatpacking industry continued its consolidation throughout the 1980s and eventually large operators had trouble locating an adequate workforce, despite an overall exodus of jobs. The work had not changed, but the pay and benefits had. This gave rise to the immigrant worker issues that are so often associated with the towns Dakota City, Postville, Sioux City, Council Bluffs and Marshalltown. (...to be continued...).
We hope you will read the second post on this timely and
important issue next Sunday.
Workers Take Heat from ICE By Marty Ryan, Legislative Director of the ACLU of Iowa.
"They didn't get me for robbing or murdering. They got me for working" Irma Hernandes, Postville resident and Agriprocessors employee
Subcommittee
meetings on bills during the session of Iowa’s General Assembly can
result in the emergence of some very fascinating information, and a bit
of entertainment now and then. During a subcommittee meeting on Senate
Study Bill 3286, a bill relating to wage payment collection and
employment classification, an interesting exchange took place
between John Gilliland, lobbyist and senior vice president of the Iowa
Association of Business and Industry (ABI), and Senator Joe
Bolkcom (D-Iowa City).
John:
Uh, yeah, I have this problem with Section 11 of the bill; the part
that holds the top ten largest shareholders personally liable for
wages.
Joe,
rubbing his chin: [after pausing for a while to read the
section] Yeah, I see what you mean, John. Ten is probably too
many. What do you suggest? Five?
John: No, no, that’s not what I meant.
Joe:
Well, then, what are you saying, John? No one individual should
be responsible for paying wages due to an employee?
SSB 3286
passed out of subcommittee and out of the Senate Ways and Means
Committee and became Senate File 2416. It was never brought up
for consideration (debate) in the Senate and died when the Legislature
adjourned for the session.
The bill
had flaws, but it’s too bad that some provisions were not enacted prior
to May 12 when federal agents stormed a meat packing plant in Postville
to eventually take away over 300 of its employees in handcuffs.
Why? The employees didn’t have proper documentation.
The
owner and corporate shareholders shrugged their shoulders. They
had no idea (wink, wink) that some of their employees were
undocumented workers.
Well,
now that that federal government has whisked them away from the
area, the problem is all over. Or, is it? Were these
workers paid? Were they paid fairly? Legally? Slavery is a
constitutional violation. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction. That’s the 13th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. It brings to mind words rarely used anymore:
peonage, serfdom, Russian chattel, military draftee.
Iowa
Labor Commissioner Dave Neil has confirmed that, prior to the May 12
show of intimidation in northeast Iowa, a state investigation was
underway, possibly leading to labor law violations against the
Agriprocessors plant in Postville. Speculation has it that many
of the potential allegations include violations of child labor laws.
‘It is
an ongoing investigation, and I can’t really get into the specifi cs,’
Neil said. As many as eighteen juveniles were detained in the
raid. The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union had
been conducting an effort to organize the workers within the
plant. Mark Lauritzen, UFCW international vice president, had
urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in a May 2 letter
to delay a raid at the plant so that possible OSHA investigations could
be completed. It’s almost as if reporting problems to the right
hand of the government gets the left hand of the government involved.
Yin and
Yang, so to speak. All of this came down as though Agriprocessors
requested the raid. The UFCW has to start almost from
scratch; witnesses in workplace violations may have
vanished, either on their own accord, or by governmental intervention;
and workers who were hauled away in handcuffs - over 300 of them most
likely will not see what would be their last paychecks, accrued
vacation pay (if it even exists), and any other benefits, that at a
minimum, might be owed to the former loyal employees.
So much for business ethics. With employers like Agriprocessors, why are unions often considered the bad guys?
I doubt
very much that Agriprocessors is a member of ABI, but sitting in that
subcommittee meeting last spring I couldn’t help but wonder what
businesses John Gilliland was representing when he fought to keep top
executives and shareholders from being personally liable for paying
employees the just wages they deserve.
As
always, it’s the worker who takes the heat. If the law put the
corporate board of directors in jail for a day or two the ‘problem’
would cease to exist. The rich always live by different rules,
mainly because they pay to make the rules, or in this case, the
laws. SF 2416 should have been given some consideration. I’m
looking forward to the day when photojournalists take snapshots of the
CEO and nine other shareholders being led from a plant in
handcuffs. Or, I’ll compromise, John. Five is a nice
number. But don’t tell me that individual shareholders are
oblivious to the conduct of the corporation, or that they shouldn’t be
held responsible. If wealthy shareholders call the shots, they
should take the shots.
Postville Donations By Emily Gaumer, Main Street Project
This is the most recent address given to send donations to Postville.
I am sure that you already have this information, I know that our organization, The Main Street Project, has been receiving phone calls regarding donation questions.
The address is as follows:
St. Bridget's Hispanic Fund
c/o Sister Mary McCauley
P.O. Box 369
Postville, IA 52162
Support for Postville Raids Requested!/Apologies for Cross Postings
By Amalia Anderson and Kathy Hiltsley, Main Street Project
Hi Friends and Family:
As many of you know from the recent media reports the raids in Postville, Iowa are awful for this small community. Due to recent events, there is quite a need for money to purchase basic supplies for the families and other personnel working and assisting in the effort.
Any help that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
The list of needed supplies is below.
Any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Subject: PLEASE SHARE--Support for Postville Raids Requested!/Apologies for Cross Postings
Dear Friends and Allies-
The Postville Raid--the largest at a single site in history, has left many victims in its wake. Approximately 390 people were arrested on Monday as ICE descended on Agriprocessors-- the nation's largest kosher packing plant. There are many needs! Below please find a variety of options for donating cash or supplies to the various organizations/institutions that are directly working with the detainees and their families.
This list was created based on conversations with staff working with the community in Waterloo and Postville.
***For those of you in MN-- the Main Street Project is more that willing to serve as a 'drop-off' location.
For directions to our office, please contact: Kathy Hiltsley at 612-879-7578 or kathy@mainstreetproject.org.
Thanks!
-amalia
**********************************************
Supplies Needed:
reams of white paper for copying/printing staplers staples Xerox toner pens paper clips diapers (for infants-toddlers) infant formula (Simulac and Enfamil) gas cards (Recommended for IA: Kum & Go, Hy-Vee, Casey's General Store) Hygiene products for men and women (shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush) food (non perishable) phone cards (long distance to Latin America)
Cash Donations for Immigrant Families: For sending checks and cash, the address is: Veridian Credit Union P.O. Box 6000 Waterloo, IA 50701
If making a donation via credit card, please call
1-800-235-3228 *** Please include Account Number for the Postville fund when sending either form of payment. The account number-- 5830490
Cash Donations for El Centro Latinoamericano (general operating): El Centro Latinoamericano 500 E. 4th Street Ste. 321 Waterloo, Iowa 50703 Phone: 319-287-6400
Cash Donations for St. Bridget's Catholic Church:
Saint Bridget's Hispanic Ministry
Att'n. Paul Real PO BOX 369 Postville, IA. 52162 _________________________________
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