Latest ICE raid

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Federal Immigration agents on Monday arrested more than 300 people during a raid at a Postville meat processing plant.

The raid by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was the largest in Iowa history, Matt M. Dummermuth, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa, said at a news conference.

Dummermuth said the raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in northeast Iowa came after months of planning, beginning in October 2007. Federal agents were helped by state and local police.

Authorities said more than 300 workers were arrested on a variety of charges included fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and identity theft.

“Can’t speculate on if that number will go up,” said Claud Arnold, special agent in charge of ICE’s Bloomington, Minn., office. “We’ll have more information on that tomorrow.”

Of those arrested, 44 were released for humanitarian reasons, primarily because they must care for children. Those released were ordered to report to court later.

The hundreds of people arrested were held in local jails or driven by bus about 75 miles to the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo. Federal authorities previously leased the fairgrounds and have turned it into a secure center.

People arrested will be fed three meals a day, plus an evening snack, Arnold said. All those taken to the fairgrounds should be removed by Wednesday night.

Authorities said they notified Agriprocessors officials before the raid and that the company cooperated with the investigation. The company shut down its operation Monday before the raid to avoid safety problems.

Agriprocessors is the world’s largest kosher meatpacking plant.

Some have criticized a December 2006 Immigration raid at a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Marshalltown, part of a larger action in six states. Asked if Monday’s action differed from previous raids, officials said no.

“We’re doing things the way we always do,” Arnold said. “Standard operating procedure. We’re doing things the right way.”

The raid began about 10 a.m. when agents entered the plant, looking for evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security numbers and for people who are in the country illegally, ICE spokesman Tim Counts said.

Counts said a toll-free telephone number had been set up to assist family members of those arrested who have questions about their detention status and the removal process.

Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville, said family members of plant workers came to the nearby church in tears.

“The people right now are hearing and seeing the helicopters,” McCauley said Monday morning. “They are just panic-stricken and very frightened and some of them are coming to the church as a safe haven.”

The church is about five blocks from the plant, she said.

She said rumors began swirling around the community on Friday about an upcoming raid, leaving many people worried.

She said Immigration officials arrived with buses, vans and two helicopters.

She said she went to the plant to help provide information and assist workers but was not allowed to get close.

“Some of the people that are going to be detained are up against a fence and now they’re tying their hands,” she said.

Many of the plant workers are Hispanic, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, she said.

Asked about the raid during a Monday news conference, Gov. Chet Culver said both illegal immigrants and companies that knowingly hire them should be prosecute.

“Illegal means illegal, not just those who are crossing the border illegally but those who are responsible for helping to make it happen,” Culver said.

Culver added the importance in taking humanitarian concerns into account and said he’d raised this issue with Immigration authorities.

The governor said he’d been told last week there would be some kind of federal action.