We residents of New Hampton are very aware of the raid, deportations and general mayhem in Postville since the Feds chose Agriprocessors as the target to publicize their impeccable capabilities.
    In May Federal Immigration Officers arrested 389 Latino workers at the Kosher Meat Processing plant including men, women and children. A federal “Kangaroo Court” was set up at the Cattle Congress site in Waterloo and within a few days had disposed of the cases. Some were jailed, some deported, some, mainly women, were sent home with monitoring devices attached. In most cases the women had small children at home.
    Meanwhile, not one of the owners or upper echelon managers has been detained, charged or arrested. One man, Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, a “manager” was arrested and charged of conspiring with the company to hire illegal workers. You can bet Juan Carlos doesn’t own one paper clip at Agriprocessors, but was offered up for arrest by the company to placate the Feds. He recently pleaded guilty in Federal Court.
    The incident created enough publicity to have a reporter from the New York Times come to Postville and write about the raid.
    The story claimed more than 20 underage youths worked at the plant, some as young as 13. These youths worked shifts of 12 hours or more wielding razor sharp knives and saws to slice freshly killed beef. Because of the inherent danger, Iowa Law prohibits hiring anyone under 18 to work in a packing plant.
    These young people are speaking out now, knowing they will likely be deported, and have nothing to lose. Some underage workers quoted in the N.Y. Times articles are still employed at the plant and were not caught in the raid. They were identified by first name only when reporting on conditions.
    The raid and its aftermath has disrupted Agriprocessors operations. The company has shown little concern or support for imprisoned workers and families. Their only concern is hiring warm bodies at $10 per hour to replace the deportees. Reports have stated company hired recruiters were seeking employees in big city ghettos, natives from Somolia and residents from the tiny nation of Palau. Palau is a small island nation, 8,000 miles from Postville in the Pacific Ocean.
    The investigation is far from closed. It will be interesting if the company executives can be caught with their hands in the cookie jar before it is all over.