Postville, Iowa ICE raid fifth anniversary

Five years ago today ICE agents raided a meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa. At the time, it was the largest immigration raid in U.S. history.
Nearly 400 people were deported or simply fled the town during and after the raid. The town itself is still in recovery and the meat-packing plant, which is now under new ownership and name, has recruited Somali refugees to work there.

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Postville to help with the translation of an interview with one of the people involved in the raid. The woman we interviewed was an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala at the time of the raid. Her husband, also undocumented and from Guatemala, was deported when the raid happened back in 2008.
It was interesting to be in a mini-melting pot like Postville and to hear this woman’s story was pretty cool. Immigration is an issue that I pay a lot of attention to because my parents were also undocumented when they moved from Mexico to the U.S. in the 70s.

You can read more about the Postville raid here.
I also made an interactive timeline for The Gazette to go with the story.