Despite justified opposition from the immigrant rights community, workplace raids of undocumented immigrants continue unabated in the United States. A meatpacking plant in northeast Iowa is the latest target, where over 300 workers were arrested yesterday in the biggest raid of 2008. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights put out this statement in response:
Yesterday's historic raid on the AgriProcessors Plant in Postville, Iowa, highlights not only our nation's ongoing need for immigrant labor, but also the failure of the rapidly expanding and unchecked immigrant detention business that has sprouted up in the absence of real immigration reform.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 300 immigrant workers at the plant, who represent 15% of the population of the rural town in northeast Iowa. These workers were shipped off to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds fifty miles away. ICE has issued nearly 700 complaints and warrants, so even more arrests may be coming.
All of these workers were laboring in one of our most physically demanding industries, meatpacking-- an industry that historically has traditionally relied on immigrants. The workers were doing nothing more than striving to support themselves and their families, with the opportunities that were available to them. As a result, they were rounded up and herded off to cattle grounds, which ICE had rented out for the operation, while the managers and owners of the Plant faced no criminal or civil charges.
Beyond questions of humane detention, a labor economist quoted in a New York Times story the morning after the raid noted that it will be “absolutely devastating to the local economy.” Removing so many people from the plant at once will cripple its ability to operate, and the impact of shutting down the plant and taking so many wage-earners and their spending power out of the community’s economic base will ripple across the region.
Many communities across our nation rely heavily on immigrant labor. As native-born workers grow old and retire, particularly in rural areas, businesses need new workers to keep going. New immigrant workers have enabled communities to thrive economically, or to avoid deeper downturns than they would have without them. But legal channels do not offer enough workers, so businesses must often turn to workers who are not authorized to be here.
Rounding up hundreds of hardworking immigrants and interning them on cattle grounds is a shameful and inhumane practice that does not address the real problem of our broken laws or the realities of our economy. Wouldn't it make more sense to allow more immigrants to come in legally to do these kinds of jobs, instead of raiding plants and disrupting local economies? And instead of hounding undocumented workers and prosecuting them for using false IDs, would it not be more sensible to offer these immigrants the chance to gain legal status, get real IDs, and work here legally? Our nation needs true immigration reform that will meet our labor needs, allow immigrant workers to gain legal status, and treat all workers with respect and dignity.
Raids and deportations are escalating rapidly throughout the country, requiring more space to house immigrants and more oversight to ensure humane conditions. In Iowa, immigrants are being taken to cattle grounds, but thousands of others are housed in detention centers throughout the country. A recent New York Times article ("Few Details on Immigrants who Died in Custody" 5/5/08) reports the deaths of 66 immigrant men and women in detention centers, revealing the appalling reality of a system that does not work.
It is a human rights offense that immigrant detainees continue to suffer from lack of proper health care, counseling and limited access to religious workers. In Illinois, the Religious Ministry Access Bill, HB 2747, will be voted on this week in the State House of Representatives, and it would provide some relief to those immigrants detained in local jails who cannot currently see their priests, rabbis, and imams. Granting access of religious workers to immigrant detainees awaiting trial would be one small step to ensuring humane detention conditions while we continue to press for just immigration reform.
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