October 3, 2008

The Postville 28 — Women Immigrants Fight To Stay In U.S.

By Marcelo Ballvé
New America Media

POSTVILLE, Iowa— The women could have just packed up a few belongings, gently broken the news to their children they could no longer remain in this country, and gone back to Mexico and Guatemala.

Cruz RodrÃ*guez, 31, thought she would do just that in the days after May 12, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stormed a kosher meatpacking plant in this small town, arresting her and nearly 400 other undocumented workers.


RodrÃ*guez was among some 40 detainees, almost all women, ICE released with ankle bracelet monitoring devices the day of the raid, so they could care for their children as they waited to see an immigration judge. As the weeks and months wore on, many opted for deportation once courts gave them the chance, returning to rural villages in Guatemala and Mexico some thought they’d left behind for good.


Twenty-eight of the women, however, including RodrÃ*guez, remain in Postville, fighting deportation by applying for political asylum or special visas, according to the Hispanic Ministry at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, nerve-center of immigrants’ organizing efforts.


“At first I felt very depressed, I didn’t see the purpose in anything,â€