Associated Press
Postville, Iowa – Federal immigration agents in northeastern Iowa have arrested at least 300 people in a raid on the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant.
U.S. Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth says the raid on the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville is the largest operation of its kind in Iowa history and followed months of planning.
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the plant looking for evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security numbers and people in the country illegally.
Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun, says family members of plant workers were coming to her nearby church in tears.
ICE spokesman Tim Counts says those arrested could be released on humanitarian grounds if they are a primary caregiver to a child.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted May 13, 2008 at 11:38 pm
O…kay. I’m…guessing these weren’t 300 poor Israeli immigrants fleeing to Sister McCauley’s church, then?
Yeah, this is just going in the “weird” file. God bless.
posted May 14, 2008 at 10:00 am
These were poor Mexican immigrants who probably worked there for a while and estb. their families without problems, now they are caught in a mess and fleeing to Sister McCauley’s Church for help. Hopefully the next administration will remedy the situation, thus far not handled properly. So many fires to be put out!
posted May 14, 2008 at 12:10 pm
This is not the best use of federal funds. It is not like there were hundreds of people from the community lined up to take these jobs in the packinghouse.Not only that, but the ICE does not have a good reputation for honoring the promises to keep families together. Here in FL they usually break up housholds even if there is only one adult taking care of children. I hope the ICE folks in Iowa are more careful. Our xenophobic rush is blocking our sense of decency and “family values”. It is time to stop and take a deeper look at the entire issue.
posted May 14, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm…………..
I’m with Joey on this one. Too few details of what prompted the raid. Definitely weird.
posted May 15, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Identity thief and stolen SS# is huge and every illegal immigrant is not wholesome anymore than every Kosher plant is actually Kosher. So of these places harbor some very nasty people. It is a shame they bring the stench of their activities to mix with some good folk just trying to make a living but the whole illegal immigrant thing is harmful to us as a nation. There are limits.
posted May 16, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I may be a little slow, but after a while I can draw a line between two points. For example, it occurred to me that the fleeing immigrants ought to be able to find sanctuary with a synagogue – assuming there is one nearby the KOSHER meatpacking plant. What do the rabbis say? Where are they in offering the welcome prescribed by the ancient code of hospitality?
posted May 16, 2008 at 1:36 pm
jest,
As set forth by Abraham, the originator of ‘chesed’, or lovingkindness, and as interpreted in the Talmud, one helps the stranger (as we were strangers in a strange land ourselves), one helps the widow, and one helps the orphan.
One is not obligated, however, to harbor a criminal.
NOT equating all illegal aliens with criminals – please understand.
But if people are breaking the law with identity theft or other like crimes, well….
posted May 16, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The problem is we Americans have helped these immigrants to break the law, because many employers saw how fuzzy the laws were in enforcing them. The immigrants, Mexican, Other South Americans, and another country I can’t remember were working there, and were probably all RC. They wouldn’t go to a Synagogue for help, they would go to a RC Church. As far as the Synagogue not taking them in because of breaking laws, the Kosher factory, probably owned by Jewish people were certainly aware of who was employed in their company. I think they thought they were helping them, as all Jewish people I know are very generous with help for the underpriviledged. This is why the Democrats when they are elected will have to do something about the big mix-up and enforce laws, new or old.
posted May 17, 2008 at 12:01 am
. H22 says; “I think they thought they were helping them, as all Jewish people I know are very generous with help for the underprivileged.” (spelling corrected)
WOW! How blind can one be? They did it to make money period, if they were concerned about the immigrants then they would have helped them with documentation and paid them fair wages, and if they were to pay fair wages then there would have been competition for the jobs and that competition would have eliminated the criminals and not provided an attraction to the criminals. The company’s only concern is cheap labor.
posted May 17, 2008 at 3:28 pm
CK, as usual, you make an enormous amount of assumptions while pointing fingers.
The factory has no legal authority to “help them with documentation”.
You have no clue how much the workers are getting paid.
You have no idea about the circumstances by which they were hired and what type of “competition” was held for the jobs.
There are plenty of honest jobs that don’t pay well that are typically filled by temporary workers, often immigrants, legal or not, notwithstanding your “fair wages” comment.
Not everyone who works cheaply is a “criminal”.
Brother!
posted May 17, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Actually the factory has no obligation to help them but it does have an obligation to make sure their IDs and status of citizenship. It is apparent it did neither or there would be no reason to raid. If they had the measure of good will assumed then they would have looked out for their workers. If the job paid well they would not have to use illegal immigrants no mystery there. I understand hearts getting in the way of reason but their factory was raided for a reason I know the process behind the decision to make a highly publicized move like this raid, they are not done with guesswork.