Postville Project Documents
This is a collection of documents from the Postville Project collection.
The Postville Project is an initiative to preserve and exhibit the media and stories surrounding the 2008 immigration raid and the memories of the Postville, Iowa community before, during, and after that event. The collections in this project include news articles, photographs, personal papers, federal court documents, and much more. This is a collaborative effort between the University of Northern Iowa Rod Library and the Luther College Archives.
-
Snow Shoveling
Liz Rog
Recounts how some immigrant men shoveled snow after a snowstorm in Decorah, Iowa.
-
Sisters launch billboard campaign for immigration reform
Barb Arland-Fye
Catholic News Service article from Dec. 27, 2011: In anticipation of the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3, 10 communities of women religious in Iowa and nearby states bought billboards throughout Iowa to deliver a call for comprehensive immigration reform.
-
Carne Viva In Postville: Stories Of Madres And Monarchs
Jennifer Cooley and Karen Mitchell
Carne viva are two words in Spanish that together can be translated various ways. Taken literally, they refer to live flesh, like an open wound. In this way they can allude to the slow process of recovery after a traumatic event. The words draw up images of enduring pain. In addition, they can be read to refer to fresh meat and in the context of human relations, to the image of a new conquest. They can also draw our thoughts to the context of a slaughterhouse, where working conditions involve constant contact with carcasses and blood, and the value of human life is not superior to the lives of the animals processed on the line; both cattle and humans are vehicles for profit. Finally, the words refer to human beings with vibrant lives whose stories will be told as this performance unfolds.
On May 12, 2008, approximately 900 police agents (federal, state and local authorities, helicopter pilots, and others) were on the ground in Postville, Iowa to stage what was at the time the largest workplace immigration raid in U.S. history. Given that the total population of Postville was just over 2,000, there was nearly one agent for every two Postville residents. By the end of the day, 389 workers had been detained at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant. Most detainees were herded into buses and transported to the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, where they were caged in the very stalls that were typically reserved for cattle and hogs, and then “fast-tracked” in legal proceedings that, like the raid itself, were unique to U.S. history. Such legal proceedings have since been declared unconstitutional. Some of the detained workers, primarily women, were released by the evening of May 12. They were tagged with GPS tracking devices, given a 5-mile radius as a limit to their mobility, and told that they could not work and could not leave the delimited area, but were “free” to care for their children.
The events represented in Carne viva occur over the course of 5 months, from May 12, 2008 to Oct. 12, 2008. These months correspond to the sentences laid out for the majority of detained workers at Agriprocessors. These were traumatic days both in Postville and in Guatemala, in villages dotted across the Western Highlands that sent workers to the plant. The detained spouses and significant others of many Guatemalan women in Postville were the process of being deported, but the women often had no idea in what jail or even in what state prisoners were housed. During those five months family members in Guatemala would have no source of income from remittances and little or no word about the status of their loved ones and their possible return.
-
Guatemalan workers in Iowa reunite with family members they left behind
Carol Hoverman
Catholic News Service article from Dec. 29, 2010: More than two dozen Guatemalans were reunited in December with their family members, eight former Agriprocessors workers whom they had not seen in years.
-
Community Potluck and Town Hall Meeting flyer
A poster announcing a conversation about comprehensive and humane immigration reform held November 22, 2009 in Decorah, Iowa.
-
Decorah area faith coalition prayer vigil poster
A poster announcing a vigil and prayer walk held on February 22, 2009 in solidarity with those affected by the Postville immigration raid and calling for immigration reform.
-
Interfaith immigration reform prayer walk and vigil
A program from the interfaith immigration reform prayer walk and vigil held in Decorah, Iowa on February 22, 2009.
-
Interfaith Immigration Reform Prayer Walk list of chants
A flyer of the chants used at the interfaith immigration reform walk on February 22, 2009.
-
Interfaith Immigration Vigil program readings
Selected Biblical readings for the interfaith immigration vigil held February 22, 2009.
-
Migration: Major social, economic force in Americas for years to come
Ezra Fieser
Catholic News Service article from Feb. 4, 2009: To escape war and poverty, Latin Americans will continue to flock to neighboring countries and to the United States for work and security, making migration a dominant economic and social force in the Americas for years to come, migration experts said.
-
La Historia de Nuestras Vidas theatre program
Onofre Macario Aguilar, Juventino Lopez Pichia, Luis Enrique Moncada Quiroz, Javier Lopez Sajche, Oscar Sis Tepaz, and Aaron Junech Vega
A work-in-progress presentation of an original play detailing personal accounts of U.S. immigration, the raid in Postville, and federal detention.
-
Help given to immigrants affected by Iowa raid called faith in action
Joseph O'Brien
Catholic News Service article from May 18, 2009: After the first anniversary observance of the immigration raid in Postville May 12, Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus of Dubuque said he hoped the event would show the world that faith in Christ ended in action.
-
Immigration reform next up on bishops' wish list for Congress
Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service article from Nov. 25, 2009: Over the years, hundreds of thousands of postcards have come from U.S. Catholics in organized efforts to influence members of Congress on issues ranging from partial-birth abortion to human cloning to health care reform.
-
American dream still shines for women detained in Postville raid
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Apr. 27, 2009: When Marta Veronica Cumez Solovi was driven to the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville where she once worked, she said she had a sense of dread about going back there.
-
Bishops discuss joys, challenges of shepherding rural dioceses
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from May 6, 2009: Demographics may be the biggest challenge to bishops in rural-dominant dioceses.
-
Clergy, religious offer perspectives on aftermath of Postville raid
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from May 1, 2009: Reverberations from the immigration raid in Postville last May are still being felt in the town and throughout the Archdiocese of Dubuque, of which Postville is a part.
-
Community media makes big difference in small town
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Apr. 29, 2009: If you want to see the impact of low-power media, look no further than radio station KPVL-FM in Postville.
-
Priest came out of retirement to help meatpacking plant workers
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Apr. 29, 2009: Father Paul Ouderkirk has a nice house in northeastern Iowa where he was living in comfortable retirement, overseeing the banks of, as he calls it, "the mighty Missi-Sloppy."
-
Town's economy is hit hard after immigration raid
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from May 1, 2009: When Father Paul Ouderkirk assumed the pastorate of St. Bridget Parish in Postville in 2000, he estimated the town's population at 2,000. Within a year, he said, it had grown to 2,500.
-
U.S. citizenship on horizon for former meatpacking plant worker
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Apr. 30, 2009: Elmer Herrera was detained, but not detained in the same way other immigrant residents of Postville were a year ago.
-
Detention Deficit Disorder
Liz Rog
An autobiographical narrative of a woman' trip with an immigrant to visit another immigrant in jail, both of whom had been arrested on immigration charges.
-
Gabriela's Gift
Liz Rog
An autobiographical account of assistance given to an immigrant in danger of being evicted from an apartment in Postville, Iowa.
-
Cardinal, others discuss faith-based forces aligning on immigration
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Sept. 22, 2009: The next phase in the drive for comprehensive immigration reform is taking root in parish basements, church sanctuaries and Jewish summer camps.
-
Court rulings, new policies seen as important changes for immigrants
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from May 6, 2009: The Supreme Court's unanimous decision May 4 that said the government was wrong to prosecute illegal immigrants for identity theft in certain types of cases was the latest of several rulings and policy announcements that will effectively roll back approaches on immigration initiated by the Bush administration.
-
In the immigration spotlight: Detention, immigrants' citizen children
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Mar. 27, 2009: A pair of reports released in March lay out some of the data behind efforts seeking changes in immigration policies, long before Congress gets around to considering another comprehensive immigration bill.
-
Iowa, other raids rallying points in push for immigration changes
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from May 12, 2009: A year ago a dramatic workplace immigration raid turned the town of Postville, Iowa, on its head, with the arrest of 389 immigrant workers rippling through to most of the town's 2,300 residents, straining resources and ultimately leading to closed businesses around town.
-
Report: Even before immigration reform, why not try these changes
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Feb. 13, 2009: Whether a comprehensive immigration reform bill makes it to the front of Congress' agenda any time soon, there are plenty of things the three federal immigration-related agencies can do in the meantime to deal with some problems, according to a new study.
-
Interfaith Prayer Service program
The program of an interfaith prayer service, march, and rally held in Postville, Iowa on July 27, 2008.
-
Interfaith Service and March poster
A poster announcing an interfaith service and march in support of immigrant families and a call for immigration reform.. in Postville, Iowa on July 27, 2008.
-
Interfaith Service and Walk schedule of events
The schedule of events for the interfaith service and walk held in Postville, Iowa on July 27, 2008.
-
People at interfaith prayer service, rally urge justice for migrants
Barb Arland-Fye
Catholic News Service article from Aug. 1, 2008: Inside a Catholic church in northeast Iowa July 27, a rabbi from Chicago pondered the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty at a gathering of 500 people of various faiths.
-
Iowa community rallies to help families after raids
Dave Cushing
Catholic News Service article from May 28, 2008: As the people arrested in a May 12 immigration raid in Iowa were processed and sent off to prison or deported, church leaders, pastoral ministers and community organizers in northeast Iowa struggled with what they called the tragic and devastating effects of the enforcement action.
-
Nobel winner listens to testimony of workers rounded up in Iowa raid
Carol Hoverman
Catholic News Service article from Nov. 19, 2008: She came from Guatemala to Postville for one purpose.
"I have come to listen specifically to the testimonies of the people who have suffered abuses here from the raid," Rigoberta Menchu said. "I come not only to listen to your suffering, but also to identify with your suffering. Your pain is my pain."
So began the message of the 1992 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in human rights, first in Guatemala and now on the international stage.
-
Bishops seek end to immigration enforcement raids
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Sep. 10, 2008: - If federal immigration officials cannot create more "humane" conditions when making enforcement raids against undocumented immigrants, then "these enforcement raids should be abandoned," said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration.
-
Panelists discuss how news media look at poverty issues
Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service article from Jun. 10, 2008: The news media look at poverty issues -- when they bother to look at all -- with a negative connotation, according to the co-author of one study.
-
Many Doses of Kindness
Liz Rog
An account of seeking medical care for an immigrant woman with a bad headache after the Postville raid.
-
Conference examines Homeland Security's handling of immigration
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from May 21, 2008: Five years after the Department of Homeland Security was created as an umbrella agency, its handling of immigration-related situations came in for harsh criticism at an immigration law and policy conference May 20.
-
ICE head touts common ground with church, avoids talk of differences
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Jul. 30, 2008: The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, had to know she was stepping in front of a potentially challenging audience when she agreed to speak to the 2008 National Migration Conference, co-sponsored by four Catholic organizations that aid refugees and immigrants.
-
Investment banker's little bond fund goes nationwide for immigrants
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Aug. 13, 2008: Massachusetts investment banker and philanthropist Robert Hildreth's success in business means Luis Delgado, a Mexican immigrant arrested in an immigration crackdown on a Maryland roofing company June 30, will get to be with his wife and children for the months it will take his legal case to be adjudicated.
-
Iowa town stretching resources to help families hurt by ICE raid
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from Jul. 30, 2008: Father Richard Gaul, from St. Bridget's Parish in Postville, Iowa, said that in the more than two months since the largest single-business immigration raid in history hit their town, the situation for many people has gone from bad to worse.
-
Repercussions of immigration raid felt far beyond Iowa
Patricia Zapor
Catholic News Service article from May 23, 2008: An immigration raid May 12 in Iowa may have taken place in tiny Postville, but its repercussions are being felt as far away as Washington and Guatemala.