Did federal agents abuse detainees this May in Postville, IA? Two say “Yes!”

Sirens Chronicles readers learned about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Postville, IA last May. It was (at that time) the largest ICE raid ever conducted. Almost 400 undocumented workers were rounded up and arrested. It started a chain reaction that has spun out of control, wreaking havoc in the lives of thousands.

Now this, from the National Immigration Justice Center: these unfortunate workers affirm that they were mocked, injured, and needlessly hurt in the process by federal officers conducting the raid. The courageous Florida International University Professor Erik Camayd-Freixas interviewed 94 detained immigrant workers in Florida this fall before they were deported to Guatemala. Two of them provided statements detailing the abuse. Camayd-Freixas has given permission for the affidavits to be posted online. Download the PDF file here.

Two Guatemalans, Marvin Danilo Perez-Gomez and Mardoqueo Valle-Callejas, describe being kept awake for more than 48 hours, shackled. They claim people were humiliated when taken to the bathroom, and, worse, that they received threats and violence.

From the affidavit of Marvin Danilo Perez-Gomez:

That day they had us suffering hunger. I had started my shift at 4:00am, and they didn’t give me anything to eat until 10:00pm. I felt my head was going to explode. In Waterloo [National Cattle Congress] they kept me sitting down without my sweatshirt and barefoot in the cold from 8:00pm to 2:00am, while they arranged the paperwork. Then they put me in one of the cages where they had the cots for sleeping. But they did not let us sleep at all for 48 hours. They kept coming every so often to run the scanner over the barcode of a bracelet they had put on us. They would come in shouting: “Wake up!” There were also cages with women. Those who asked to go to the bathroom were told not to be such a nuisance, and whenever they were finally taken, it was with four guards or chained, amid mockeries and humiliations. They made us eat and drink in shackles, and you had to lean way over sideways on the chair in order to sip a bit of water from the bottle. Then they would mock us for the way we walked with the chains, and since our clothes were too long on account of our short height, they would tell us “You look like clowns.” I, when they would tell me all of those insults and humiliations, all I could see were the faces of my daughters, and I would cry.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff need to investigate these sworn statements which contradict the testimonies given by officials from the Attorney General’s office and the ICE Office of Investigations during a House Immigration Subcommittee hearing in July 2008. Camayd-Freixas and a team of researchers at FIU have started compiling information about allegations of abuse of detainees by ICE officers during raids. “This is a trend nationwide, which is just now starting to be documented,” he said.

Let’s get down to the bottom of this wormpile; our proud nation cannot tolerate abuse in the name of our citizens.

The 111th Congress opens in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2009. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask to speak to your senators and representatives, and tell them that fair immigration reform that ends inhumane detention and deportation practices must be a priority for 2009.

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Rigoberta Menchu Press Conference in Postville IA 11/8/08

Posted: Monday, November 10, 200, decorahnews.com

As part of her fact finding mission, listening to “unique testimonies” of those impacted by the May 12 ICE raid at Agriprocessors, and providing support and advocacy for that group, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchu addressed members of the press in a special meeting Saturday afternoon in Postville. In an unlikely press conference setting, Menchu informally entertained press questions as she sat in the altar area of St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville. Menchu indicated the Postville situation was her only reason for this visit to the United States.

Menchu was drawn to Postville as she heard reports of human rights violations and the treatment of detainees as if they were criminals of high risk. She said the Postville situation should awaken the curiosity of human rights defenders and that she would ask her colleagues in Amnesty International to become involved, adding that widespread knowledge of this case is the best way to prevent such abuses in the future.

Asked why there had been such a large influx of Guatemalans to the U.S., Menchu said that after years of civil war, peace agreements failed to address the post conflict issues related to massive populations of the neglected poor, widows and orphans. Two and one half million children suffer from severe malnutrition in a country that has a strong potential for the development of natural resources. Essentially there is no work, widespread poverty, and the U.S. allies in that country continue to make increasing profits while not being interested in the poor. She was asked if Free Trade agreements had contributed to the problem and she replied that Central and Latin American countries are governed by the elite who have exploited the poor, and don’t care about civilian populations – and that Free Trade essentially reinforces the wealth of the rich. She will be meeting soon with a group in Costa Rica to discuss new ways to think about Free Trade agreements.

Menchu emphasized that immigration is a global problem. She said the Postville problem runs even deeper and was a “pressure cooker” situation with many injustices occurring that were not known until everything exploded in the May 12 raid. On the positive side of things, because of the Postville situation, she noted that perhaps this is a “fortunate moment” for the United States to deal with its immigration policies.

Although she said that her visit to the U.S. did not include official diplomatic visits, she was doing some private visits in New York on Sunday. She added that January would bring her first request for an audience with the President of the United States. She agrees with President-elect Obama that the U.S. must demand respect for human rights by its allies.

Menchu is an indigenous Guatemalan who has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of indigenous peoples, especially those victimized by the 1960-96 civil war. She was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize.

[I added the emphases throughout the article.]

The Postville situation is indeed dire to attract the attention of this world-renown advocate for human rights. Our outrage throughout the summer and fall, as we have kept abreast of this situation here, finds a real justification by the visit of Rigoberta Menchu. I imagine that the people of Postville were honored to enjoy her presence and appreciated her concern and attention.

With the U.S. economy on the decline, the plight of the immigrant in the U.S. will likely similarly decline. Still there is no plan on the horizon to deal with the need for comprehensive immigration reform. The (misplaced) focus is entirely on border protection. Comments from Monday’s post ring true here, too: If you have money, you count in this world. If you don’t, then you don’t matter. You’re invisible or–worse–you’re in the way and need to be eliminated.

Crossposted at Border Explorer’s blog.

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Meanwhile, what’s happening back in Postville IA?

Regular readers here joined the national outrage over the immigration raid conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in tiny Postville, IA May 2008. Nearly 400 undocumented immigrant workers at Agriprocessors, a kosher meat packing plant, were arrested on criminal–not immigration–charges in what was until that point the largest ICE raid in U.S. history. What has happened since we last visited Postville (a month ago or so)?

* Its claim to fame as site of the largest-ever raid melted like an ice cone at the state fair. In late August U.S. immigration cops nabbed 595 workers in Laurel, MS. Iowa apparently was a training camp for even bigger projects on ICE’s to-do list.

* PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, filed a federal complaint against Agriprocessors saying it violated the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act (as caught on plant videotape.)

* In early September the Iowa attorney general on Tuesday brought an array of criminal charges for child labor violations against the owners and top managers of a meatpacking plant–over 9,000 charges! Human rights activists across the nation exalted.

Further, two Agriprocessors Inc. human resources employees named in state charges were arrested and charged additionally with document fraud and identity theft. In reaction, the Orthodox Union threatened to withdraw its kosher certification of the company within two weeks unless new management was hired.

* On the national scene, US Roman Catholic bishops in a formal statement condemned immigration raids on US workplaces, alleging they break up families and disrupt communities, without addressing the country’s flawed immigration system.

* By 9/11 Agriprocessors recruited Pacific islanders from Palau to work at the meatpacking plant, in an effort to replace over half of the workforce lost in the raid. Meanwhile, the Postville police force hired additional help to fight the increase in crime since the raid. The Chief of Police speculated it may take years for the situation to normalize.

* Post-raid Postville looks like “an open-air prison” in which “good, decent” women and children without means of support but with “leg monitoring bracelets” rely on the community for survival. Local Catholic priest asks: “What kind of a government makes prisoners of 43 mothers who all have children and then says, ‘You can’t work, you can’t leave and can’t stay?’ That boggles the imagination.” The family breadwinners, meanwhile, are in “nine different prisons around the state,” leaving the Postville community to support their families.

* By mid-September, a newly installed CEO promised that Agriprocessors would make fundamental changes.

* Questions arose on substandard housing in Postville since the raid. City officials are considering the unusual move of regulating rental properties in a small town. [Click the link for photos...if you're braced. Small town values, anyone?]

* This week the two human resources workers at Agriprocessors pleaded not guilty to federal charges they face on document fraud, identity theft and harboring undocumented aliens. Thus, a trial comes one step closer.

The soap opera which is Postville, IA continues to weave its tale of broken dreams, unscrupulous exploitation, and lives spinning out of control. Merely a month brings switchbacks and heartaches with a plot careening and lurching into a broken future.

Have mercy, indeed. Have mercy on them. Have mercy on us. We will continue to monitor the the situation in Postville. How can we not?

Huge h/t to Letters and Papers from Postville for documenting events as they unfold.

Crossposted at Border Explorer’s Place.

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The Postville Legacy: Do You Want Lies With That Hot Dog?

My dear blog friend Border Explorer has been diligent and passionate in her series about the Postville Raid. Called “the biggest immigration raid in American history,” this raid has also opened the largest meat packing scandal since Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, about the corruption in the meat packing industry in the early part of the 20th Century.

And here we have history repeating itself. Sinclair wrote about horrific working conditions, the exploitation of children and women, about workers falling into rendering tanks and being ground along with animal parts into beef lard. Sinclair wrote about a system that was supposed to bring progress to our nation; instead, the increased industrialization bred chaos, amorality, greed and a kind of individuality that has no regard for human dignity – forget about animal rights.

Agriprocessers, in Postville, hired illegal immigrants, mostly from Guatamala. The employees were coerced, threatened, beaten, kept in what they describe as a “slave-like” environment. The raid was conducted not as an immigration raid, but instead as a criminal raid with the main thrust being about “identity theft.” Workers had been given “cooked” social security numbers. The immigrants, mostly unable to speak or read English, had no idea what they were being given. Opps. Their bad.

Much has been made over the fact that Agriprocessers is also the largest Kosher Meat and Poultry producer in the USA. Believe me, this has nothing to do with Orthodox Jewry. Nothing. This is about the over-industiralization of our economy.

The Meatrix is a small website I found after watching Fast Food Nation. This film shows the dark side of the fast food industry, from the ground up. The exploitation of illegal immigrants is a huge part of this chain of greed. Franchise America builds itself on cheap labor (subtext: illegal immigrants), sloppy production, and lies. Hey, Neocons? You want to stop illegal immigration? Shut down McDonalds.

At the Eat Well website, I put in my zip code: I am within 20 miles of 22 farmers markets, 2 restaurants, and 13 stores. There are actually more organic restaurants that they don’t have on the list – but the telling piece is the 22 farmers markets. I go, weekly. They are local California farmers, with either Certified Organic or one step below Certified produce. I save money, I eat better, and I support the local economy. Give this a try.

Another site, Sustainable Table, gives all kinds of tips for building community, healthy eating, and defying the conglomerates. It is a way to connect us to our land, our food, and with each other.

The tactics used in the Postville Raid bespeak a totalitarian society. We know what we’ve become over the last eight years of the Bush Administration. But I contend this has been going on for far longer than Bush has even walked this earth. Greed is not new, nor is the exploitation of the poor and disenfranchised. But we can speak out, we can do more. We really can.

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OK, Let’s Talk about Law and Order

Neocons who scream against “illegal aliens” are all for Law and Order. One counter-protestor’s sign in Postville IA on July 27 read “What would Jesus Do? Obey the Law.” Leaving aside her failure to grasp the Christian Scripture, we can accept her emphasis on obedience as characteristic of the right wing.

Good. Let’s all obey the law. Let’s enforce all the laws. Let’s begin at the top of the Postville, IA food chain.

Point 1: Federal Government

Congress heard testimony July 24 that the government process used to arrest and convict undocumented workers in Iowa in May was illegal and violated the immigrants’ due process rights. Our democratic principles hang in the balance; “a line was crossed at Postville” according to government interpreter Erik Camayd-Freixas.

Point 2: State Government

Residents of Iowa should enjoy the protection of the state’s Civil Rights Commission and the Department of the Attorney General. Children should not be sent out of state without parental consent and approval. Some alarming initial (although as yet undocumented) reports from Postville indicate this may have occurred after the raid.

Point 3: Agriprocessors

Corporations need to follow the laws of the land. When corporate employees provide illegal identification to workers, there must be corporate accountability for their actions and corporate repercussions for the failure to adequately monitor. Why has no upper management been charged at Agriprocessors?

Further, the New York Times reported on July 27 that when federal agents raided the kosher meatpacking plant in May and rounded up 389 illegal immigrants, they found more than 20 under-age workers, some as young as 13. First we need to first regulate “illegal jobs” if we’re serious about regulating illegal immigration.

While conservatives beller about “protecting our borders,” the Constitution, the labor laws, the environment, our moral system, and our family values are teetering. Let’s think about protecting the core and the foundation of our nation before we get overly concerned about the margins.

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I can’t be in Postville, but I can still help.

Border Explorer has been covering the largest ICE Raid in US History, the May 12 raid that apprehended 400 meat-packers in Postville, IA. The resulting raid has been a horrific bastardization of our rights, where Habeus Corpus has been turned on its ear. Border Explorer’s coverage of this situation has been incredible, and you should all go read it.

Today, she writes:

The Postville Community Response Committee is asking those who are concerned about the situation to send a $20 donation. This will allow the Food Pantry to purchase approximately the following items for a family of four: rice, beans, a can each of fruit and vegetables, a box of cereal, eggs, and a $5 coupon for milk.

Please send your donation to the Postville Food Pantry c/o Pastor Steve Brackett, St Paul Lutheran Church, 116 Military, Postville IA 52162

My check is in the mail, and since I can’t be in Postville, I can still help – this is how.

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