St. Joan’s Sister Parish Members Pray and Walk in Solidarity with the Guatemalans and Mexicans in Postville, Iowa, who were arrested in the ICE raid on May 12.

On Sunday, July 27, four St. Joan’s Sister Parish members traveled to Postville, Iowa as part of three buses sent by the Jewish Community Action Center from the Twin Cities. In Postville, the group was joined by more buses from Chicago and people from all over the region. The event was an ecumenical service and march to call attention to complexities of violations of Agriprocessors Meatpacking to its workers and the work of ICE(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in conducting the raid. AgriProcessors is a Jewish owned business that produces primarily kosher meat products. The Jewish Community Action Center wanted those in Postville to know that the Jewish faith supports workers and their rights to migrate. In all about 1,000 people marched representing various churches, synagogues, labor groups, immigration rights organizations, local residents, as well as Guatemalans and Mexicans affected by the raid. Another Sister Parish in Decorah, Iowa, has been active in spreading the word about the need to support those arrested through the work of the St. Bridget’s Catholic Church Hispanic Ministry in Postville.

SJA parishioner Ann Maczuga summarized her experience: “The media can not cover how awful the raid was and the atrocities committed to the families.  Families are separated and don’t know where their loved ones are.  Children are terrified.  The town is in disarray.  The workers were treated HORRIBLY both in the plant and after they were arrested.  It seems like such a little thing to do, to go and walk with them, but if even one person feels less alone because of it, it’s all worth it. Work for FAIR and JUST human rights and immigration reform!”

Louise Eidsmoe was moved by the ecumenical service which included interpretation in Spanish and Hebrew along with the English readings from the Old Testament that is our common tradition. Songs also expressed the diversity of the prayers. Officials included the Archbishop of Dubuque, an assistant to the Bishop of the Lutheran Church, the director of Campus Ministry for Luther College and three Rabbis. Talking with others before gave us more information about the horror of the raid and its effects on the children and adults, the support around Iowa for the immigrants and the importance of working together to change our laws. St. Mary McCauley from St. Bridget’s was very encouraged by the march and the hearings that had been held the previous day by several representatives from the Hispanic caucus in the House of Representatives.

Leslie Knoblauch and Rick Nelson were also part of the St. Joan’s group that marched from the Church to the AgriProcessor plant. There the Ecumenical group reiterated their demands that the company pay back wages, vacation pay and overtime that the workers are due. They are also asking for contributions to a humanitarian fund to meet the needs of families who are now on home detention to take care of their children but unable to work. Along the march, many children participated carrying signs asking for the return of the fathers. Many showed signs of the trauma and needed to be reassured that this big group of people were not doing another raid to take away their parents. The March also gave us a chance to interact with many families from Guatemala. One woman from near Antigua carried the Guatemalan flag.

At the end of the march there was a rally outside the church. Louise was able to give a letter from our Sister Parish, Tierra Nueva Dos, to one of the Guatemalan speakers who told about her experience during the raid. Ultimately, reform of our broken immigration laws are the only thing that can prevent more of these raids. On the bus home we all agreed to continue to participate in that effort.

Background: EVENTS IN POSTVILLE

In May, nearly 400 undocumented workers were seized by some 900 federal ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents at the AgriProcessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. In this town of 2300 people, more than 1 in 6 were arrested and the community is reeling.

Reports about the raid and its aftermath are available at www.immigrantlawcentermn.org. These reports include an essay by Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish language court interpreter who has witnessed the treatment of workers and families. He writes:

”Driven single-file in groups of 10, 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 marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10. They were mostly illiterate Guatemalan peasants with Mayan last names, some in tears; others with faces of worry, fear and embarrassment. They had all waived their right to be indicted by a grand jury and accepted instead a simple charging document brought by the U.S. Attorney, hoping to be quickly deported since they had families to support back home. But it was not to be. They were criminally charged with “aggravated identity theft” and “Social Security fraud” – charges they did not understand, and frankly, neither did I… “

In the short term, donations are needed to help cover the basic legal representation of those affected by the raid and to help support the families of those who are waiting for their cases to be heard or who have been sentenced to 5 months in prison. Donations may be sent to:

St. Bridget's Hispanic Ministry

c/o Sister Mary McCauley

P.P. Box 369

Postville, IA 52162

and

Louise Eidsmoe has been a long time member and past chair of the Sister Parish Committee.