We'd be better off without it, especially in the Bush Depression.

We'd be better off without it, especially in the Bush Depression.

However, I must say that I am disappointed by some of the comments in this interview; three things in particular disturb me:

1) while the warrant used to enter the plant–weapons drawn and with exaggerated force–did include allegations of a methamphetamine lab, no evidence was found to support this allegation. While I cannot speak to the presence and trade of drugs on the slaughterhouse floor prior to the raid, I find the unproven association of illegal drugs and weapons with “immigrants” made by the warrant and its subsequent publicity to be greatly problematic. It contributes to existing stereotypes of immigrant communities.

2) A similar concern rises for me as Dr. Bloom speaks of public drunkenness in town and asks rhetorical questions about wanting to have kids attend the Postville schools. Prior to the raid, I, in fact, did consider enrolling my children in the Postville schools–I live about 25 minutes away. Prior to the raid the quality of education and the diversity of the community were exemplary, especially given the resources of a small rural community. The immigrant families that had settled in Postville–the majority of those affected by the raid–were no longer predominantly young males without attachment, with too much time in their hands and causing trouble. Rather they were hard-working families who had found in town a safe-heaven to raise their children and a respite from a life of poverty and violence in their countries of origin. This was by no means a utopian community–but to describe it in the stereotypical terms of a highly transitional and struggling community is not accurate either. Ignoring the community’s work and progress since 2000, and equating life in Postville completely to what happened behind the gates of Agriprocessors is not fair to the work, life, and dedication of many. Unfortunately, the raid's removal of a fifth of the town's population brought about the kind of turmoil, huge transition, and breaking down of societal structure that Dr. Bloom points out. As I continue to work with the immigrants most directly affected by the raid, I admire their commitment and recognize their contributions–along with many long term residents of the town–to creating the kind of rural community that is trying to find a viable future. As we do the difficult work of reflecting on “what went wrong in Postville,” I hope we can do so with attention to where the town's history has broken with the assumed narratives.

3) Finally, in many ways I appreciate and echo Dr. Bloom’s comparison of the role of Agriprocessors in its relationship with Postville to that of a casino dominating a town’s economy. The economic power of a single dominant employer has historically been fraught with complications and dangerous power inequalities. These only worsen in a climate where immigrants live in fear and are convinced—even by the actions of the state—that they have no rights under the law. Where I beg to differ with Dr. Bloom, however, is in the implication that this has cost the town “in terms of crime, social welfare, transformation of the schools.” Leaving that statement unquestioned would provide fuel to those who simply assume the standard narrative about immigrant communities—they bring crime, burden social welfare, and ruin schools. This was not the case at least in the period of the last seven years when I have lived just north of Postville. While the repeated waves of workers who came and went from Postville since the raid—many of them bringing many personal challenges and finding no resources to address them—have indeed brought about an increase in crime, placed huge demands on the social welfare, and threatened the schools, I do not believe that’s an accurate perception of what the immigrants who had come to settle there had brought to the town.

Thank you.

David Vasquez, Decorah, Iowa