FSPA, affiliates and friends join rally in Postville, Iowa

Hoisting signs that read, "No Mas," (no more) "Immigration Reform Now," and "We are all children of immigrants," Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, affiliates and friends of the community marched in favor of comprehensive immigration reform on July 27. The rally, which took place in Postville, Iowa, was in response to raids by immigration authorities at Agriprocessors, Inc., the largest kosher meatpacking plant in the United States. Nearly 400 workers, most from Guatemala and Mexico, were arrested during the raids, many of whom are still detained.

More than 1,000 people attended the rally, packing St. Bridget's Church in Postville both before and after the march through town. Speakers included rabbis, priests and children of those arrested at the plant during the raid on May 12. Critics of the raids are not only questioning the tactics employed by immigration authorities and U.S. immigration policy, but also the labor practices, ethics and working conditions at Agriprocessors, Inc.

 

FSPA send relief to St. Bridget Parish in Postville, Iowa

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration support St. Bridget Parish's efforts in assisting the more than 300 immigrants awaiting trial after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on May 12, 2008. The monetary donation assists St. Bridget Parish's Hispanic Ministry Fund and will be used to assist with housing costs. In addition to the monetary support, the Franciscan Sisters support their intercongregational group, Sisters United News, and its advertising campaign launched to raise awareness around the immigration issue. "Welcome the immigrant you once were!" print ads and radio spots will run in newspapers and on radios throughout the Upper Mississippi Valley during June.

 

As FSPA Justice and Peace Coordinator, Liz Deligio, writes in her May 20 Justice Tuesday:

"The Arabs used to say 'when a stranger appears at your door, feed her for three days before asking who she is, where she has come from, and where she is headed. That way she will have enough strength to answer or by then you will be such good friends you will not care...'" Naomi Shihab Nye. Naomi Shihab Nye writes later that she "refuses to be claimed" by a culture that tells her to be too busy, too important and too afraid to care for the stranger - It makes me think how important it is to be a humane witness to this event. The raids set up an automatic de-humanization process. An important form of resistance to that is for each of us, as we are able, to hold the story of Postville and all the residents of that community and refuse to see any one of them as less - It is a beginning as we struggle as a nation to welcome the many who have come amongst us as neighbors, workers and friends."

Resources
Here are some NPR stories on this particular town.
Watch Sister Mary McCauley, St. Bridget's Catholic Church, react to the raids.
Facebook users join the Postville Raids Prayer Group created by Julia Walsh, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration.

 

A Teacher's Letter

The following was written by a teacher in Postville, Iowa. It is her view on what happened the day after the immigration raid. Yesterday, May 12, 2008, our town was raided by 400 FBI agents, ICE agents (formally known as INS), state troopers and a variety of other agencies. We had helicopters flying overhead for hours, all roads were blocked coming into and going out of Postville, media crews and cameras EVERYWHERE, and basically mass chaos. The federal government had decided to make Postville an example for the rest of the nation to see our supposedly working Homeland Security. Ironically, as this all transpired, I was at the county courthouse with my Government class, so that they could see first hand how our judicial system works. We got more of a lesson then we were bargaining for. I received calls from the school not to come back to school because I have students they were concerned about. (Yes, they are undocumented students who have been in this district since they were in fourth grade. They speak English clearly, their parents work here in town and pay taxes, have tried to file papers to become legal, but have been denied due to the fact that they do not come from a 'desirable' country.)

I am told after a few hours that I can come back on the school bus, but to expect to be pulled over by the FBI, and I am not to, under any circumstances, let any officer onto the bus. I now have 12 students who are scared as to what will happen, with four students that could possibly be arrested. Basically, I had 20 minutes to get my wits about me and be ready to face ICE or the FBI and tell them to take a hike. Under federal laws, schools and churches are considered sanctuaries, and people can go to them for political refugee. (Think of the Hunchback of Notre Dame.) Although this did nothing to calm my nerves, as I am afraid that I might also be arrested for not cooperating with the law. We made it back into Postville, only to find that our school is now surrounded by media cameras. I get to my classroom, to find out that our entire computer network crashed at 10 a.m. (the same time ICE came to Postville). It also has been running off and on today, with an entire computer tech team unable to find out what is wrong. After school, all teachers and staff are told to report to the theater. We have 150 students with no parents to go home to. We are told that we need to stay with them until we find out where their parents are at or a relative that will care for them until their parents are found. Many of these kids lost both parents due to the raid and the parents are now sitting in jail in Waterloo, or in the National Cattle Congress Fairgrounds until they are deported. I guess, I don't really care how any of you feel about immigration, we all have our opinions. But I will say, that as a human being and as a parent, I find it disturbing to see little elementary kids crying for their parents and asking you to take them home, and all one can say is, I am sorry, or we are looking for them. By the way, we got no information from ICE as to who they arrested, and whether or not, their parents were being detained. At this point, I just wanted to go home and hug my own kids.

I spent the rest of the evening trying to locate family members, having students 'hide' their personal belongings in classrooms, barns, houses or wherever, and ward off the media. From what I have heard, we were all over the Midwest news channels and newspapers, with CNN and FOX news also doing stories on us. I think we are on the national news tonight. It was announced that Postville's raid was the largest immigration raid in U.S. history.

Today, I am missing about half of my students. Some have taken off for Chicago, others are hiding in town, some were arrested, and others are at the Catholic Church. I spent the morning helping in the church with food preparation (there are 400 people seeking refugee in the church right now), and also trying to locate items like diapers, food, pillows, blankets and games for the little kids to play with. From media reports, about 350 people were arrested, with 697 more possible arrests, most of them Guatemalan (not Mexican). Only 57 have been released due to child care or medical reasons. They are currently back with ankle monitors on. Most will be deported.

The town has literally "shut down." Businesses are closed, the school is about half empty, and we are now left wondering if we will all have jobs next year. This town was a ghost town 15 years ago, but has managed to build itself back up on the backs of our immigrant workers. I have complained many times about the language barriers I encountered at school, but I have always said that the reason I had a job was because we were the only district that actually was growing and able to keep their staff due to the sheer number of students in the school district. By me working in the Postville School District, I am eligible to have half of my student loans forgiven over a five year time period. I only have one more year left to complete this goal. If we lose half of our students, this will not happen.

What frustrates me the most is that this raid accomplished nothing positive. It has destroyed families, will more than likely close some area businesses, some of us will lose our jobs, and the real estate in the area became worthless overnight. All this in an already struggling economy. I know that I am complaining in this e-mail and it has become a lengthy e-mail too, but everyone who complains about the immigrants "taking American jobs" don't even want these jobs. Honestly, who wants to work for minimum wage, 12 hours a day, 6 days a week with no overtime, in cold, smelly conditions, gutting chickens or cows? I know that I don't want to do that for a living.

Interestingly enough, my U.S. History students made a direct correlation between what we all witnessed yesterday to our history lesson three weeks ago. We have been studying W.W.II and the Holocaust. I had them view the movie Schindler's List and the things that happened in the movie, with the Nazis rounding up the Jews, having them report their names and families' names, transporting them to unknown places, keeping them in substandard holding areas, and then getting rid of them, was very much like what happened yesterday, with one exception, the U.S. has not practiced the use of genocide.

ICE is today, doing house to house searches of every home and apartment that has an Hispanic name attached to it. It is rather scary to see search teams go from place to place, looking for immigrants. We had agencies at the school a month ago with a subpoena to seize all student and employee files. Any name that sounded remotely Hispanic was flagged. I find this to be a form of racial profiling, and I know that it is happening, because I was already asked three weeks ago to bring in a copy of my birth certificate due to the fact that my maiden name was 'Hispanic' sounding. (de Julio)

How quickly we forget our own histories. Many of our ancestors came here with nothing to their names and very little to survive on. They wanted a fresh start too. Unless they are 100% Native American, your ancestors were also immigrants. So why are we trying to make an example out of those less fortunate? Why not go after the people who really are doing something illegal and wrong? Like drug dealers or child molesters? If we spent as much money on those items as we are currently spending on the War in Iraq (which we are losing) or building a 700 mile long wall on the Mexican border which is actually 2300 miles long, we would maybe in a better economy that was safe for our families.

-------------------------------Teacher in Postville School System