Thread: Postville raid: The week in review

MAY 12: The largest single-site workplace raid in U.S. history resulted in the detainment of 389 of the 968 workers at Postville-based Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse. The raid involved 16 local, state and federal agencies, led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They executed search warrants related to criminal activity, as well as a civil search warrant for people believed to be in the United States illegally. Arrest warrants were issued for 697 people who work at the plant.


• Detainees were taken that afternoon to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo, which is being leased through May 25 by the federal government. Reports of the lease became public about a week before the raid. Men were housed at Estel Hall at the Cattle Congress and the women were taken to local jails. About 56 detainees were allowed to remain in Postville under supervision to take care of sick family members or young children.

• Illegal immigrants who were not caught in the raid sought refuge at St. Bridget's Catholic Church. About 400 people were at the church, including some children who could not locate any family members. Residents cooked food and brought supplies to the church.

TUESDAY: Customs and law enforcement agents worked through the night processing the detainees.

• Twenty-nine Agriprocessors workers were charged with aggravated identity theft and the false use of Social Security numbers. The workers charged criminally were assigned attorneys. More than 100 appeared before a judge for the first time that afternoon in the Electric Park Ballroom, an old music hall that was transformed into a temporary courtroom on the grounds of the National Cattle Congress. A portable trailer served as another makeshift courtroom.

• Those not charged criminally were being held under "administrative arrest" as alleged illegal immigrants.

• Many Hispanic businesses in Postville remained closed. About one-third of the elementary and middle school's 363 students were absent Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY: The total number of detainees charged with aggravated identity theft and misuse of a Social Security number rose to 154. All but 10 were men.

• The workers met in groups with attorneys and were taken to local jails, where they met individually with their lawyers.

THURSDAY: Federal agents bused the last of the workers out of the fairgrounds to 10 county jails and a federal detention unit at the state prison in Newton. The jails are in Linn, Hardin, Fayette, Bremer, Benton, Cerro Gordo, Hamilton, Polk, Story and Boone counties.

• All of the detainees not released for medical, child-care or other humanitarian reasons — including those not charged criminally - remain in Iowa jails until immigration status hearings are scheduled at the U.S. District Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. A lawsuit was filed in federal court to prevent the workers from being moved outside of Iowa until each detainee has a "meaningful opportunity" to consult with an attorney.

TODAY: Status conferences and plea hearings for the criminally charged are scheduled to begin at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, with all future court proceedings taking place in Cedar Rapids.







http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... /1001/NEWS

Thank you for the update, by the way, you have an adorable avatar.