Rally for illegals planned in small Iowa town

CATHOLICS TO JOIN JEWS IN KOSHER PROTEST

Rally for Illegals planned in small Iowa town

Immigration rally planned in Iowa meatpacking town
By AMY LORENTZEN
Associated Press Monday, 14 July 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa — Immigration reform advocates and religious
leaders hope hundreds — of people will descend on a small Iowa
town this month for a rally in support of workers arrested in a
large raid at a meatpacking plant.

Organizers are using the raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher
meatpacking plant in Postville on May 12 as an example of what’s
wrong with the nation’s immigration laws. Federal officials have
called it the largest single immigration raid in the nation’s history.

The rally in Postville, population 2,200, is scheduled for July 27
and was organized by Jewish and Catholic groups from Iowa,
Illinois and Minnesota.

“Our national immigration policies are tearing apart and hurting
hardworking, taxpaying people who are just here trying to support
their families,” said Tom Walsh of the Jewish Council on Urban
Affairs, a Chicago-based group helping organize the rally. False ID used by illegals
More than 175 families in Postville, including more than 500 children,
“just lost not only their mother or father, but in many cases, the
sole breadwinner for their homes,” he said.

Most of the 389 workers arrested were charged with using false
identification or incorrect Social Security numbers. Two plant
supervisors were later charged with aiding and abetting the
possession and use of fraudulent identification.

Authorities said some undocumented workers who were sole
caregivers for children were allowed to return home with ankle
bracelets that monitor their movement. However, immigrant reform
advocates claimed those parents aren’t able to find work and must
rely on handouts.

“This enforcement-only approach creates massive human suffering,
separation of families and economic dislocation,” Gideon Aronoff,
CEO of the New York-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said
earlier this month.

No response from kosher slaughterhouse

A spokesman for Agriprocessors — which before the raid produced
about half of the nation’s kosher beef and 40 percent of its kosher
chicken — didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The groups planning the immigration reform rally this month in
Postville are St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville, Jewish
Community Action of St. Paul, Minn., and the Jewish Council on
Urban Affairs of Chicago. They promised testimony from people
directly affected by the raid, as well as talk about immigration
reform and workers’ rights.

“This is a call for justice. This is a call to be faithful to our American and religious values,” Sister Mary McCauley with St. Bridget’s Catholic
Church said in a statement. “This is a call to stand in solidarity with
our Hispanic brothers and sisters.” Organizers are worried that the rally could draw too many supporters
and are asking that anyone planning to attend register with their
groups.

“It’s so clear that the town has been devastated by the raid and
they are reeling and they are trying to cope with it and trying to help
the families cope with it,” said Jane Ramsey, executive director of
the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. “We want to come out with a
strong support, (but) we don’t want to overwhelm the community.”

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