Luther panel analyzes immigration crisis in Postville

In response to the immigration raid in Postville, Iowa last May, a panel discussion took place on Luther’s campus Sept. 9.

The Center for Faith and Life’s recital hall filled with people eager to partake in discussion of the controversial May 12 raid that occurred in nearby Postville.

The immigration raid was the largest of its kind in United States history, detaining 389 illegal immigrants employed by the meatpacking company Agriprocessors.

Panel members told stories of the fear that swept through Postville that day as families and friends were split apart and incarcerated. The raid was an event that shocked many and received national attention from the media. Volunteers from the community and surrounding area stepped up to help after the raid.

“We had close to sixty students [volunteer] during the week of finals,” Campus Pastor David Vasquez said.

Annie Daly (‘09) returned to Luther to volunteer after studying abroad when she heard about the raid. A friend asked Daly if she wanted to drive to Postville to help with the relief effort. With no idea what she would be doing, she accepted the offer and went to Postville May 14.

“[I] noticed the tension, the anxiety, and the worry,” Daly said of her arrival in Postville.

Daly helped translate and communicate with various immigrants, reading off charges to detainees and calling county jails to search for missing family members.

At the panel, Daly told the story of a man with a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. A list of names were scribbled on the paper. The man asked Daly if she knew where his family and friends were.

“It was at that moment that I understood how grave the situation was,” Daly said.

Vasquez expressed his opinion on the immigration raid by comparing the government’s strategy to prevent illegal employment with the image of teachers punishing students in front of class with a stick.

Some agreed with Vasquez and felt the raid’s harshness was inhumane, calling for immigration reform. Others such as Maria Vejdani (‘11) disagreed.

“The greater evil lies within the hands of the company who took advantage of the illegal immigrants’ mistake,” she said, “but it’s still a mistake and their situation is not an excuse to break the law.”

The situation in Postville is still in recovery, with a lawsuit brewing between Agriprocessors and the government in the United States Supreme Court over hiring immigrants.

Efforts to change immigration laws are sponsored through a variety of groups such as Northeast Iowans for Humane Immigration Reform, formed this summer in response to the Postville events. NEIHIR began pushing for immigration policy reform after May’s raid.

Though the raid in Postville sparked controversy, no major policy changes have come from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Postville raid was surpassed in size Aug. 26 by an immigration raid in Laurel, Mississippi, detaining 481 workers at a local plant.

The stories of these towns may be just the beginning as ICE continues to crack down on illegal immigration across the country.