Monday, June 16, 2008

Immigrant Situation in Postville, Iowa

Click here for an article from the Diocese of Davenport which gives an update on the status of the immigrants who have been detained in Postville, Iowa. If you missed the initial story, here is the original article from the NY Times.

1 comment:

  1. This material impact of these raids is becoming more and more prominent.

    In Mercer County, NJ recently ICE conducted a series of raids, again focused on Latino immigrants, but this time, as the newspaper reported, they had used a new approach. Rather than raiding the homes, they arrested the people (in the recent case, mostly if not all men) as they went to work, out in public, en masse.

    Two things struck me in particular in the Davenport Diocese article: One is that the author clearly and correctly repeats the point that the detained immigrants were charged with civil violations, a procedural concern comparable to driving without a license or filing taxes late, and not criminal violations as the anti-immigrant rhetorical script would like people to believe. The second point is that ICE released some of the women on "a humanitarian basis" such as to care for their children.

    It will be interesting and, in my view, important to watch and see how those same cases are resolved.

    Thank you for bringing this case to the forefront of our awareness.

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