Postville children sit in front of one of the homemade signs during the meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Just over 40 women, originally detained in the unprecedented May 12 immigration raid on the town’s kosher meatpacking plant, were released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement back into the town on humanitarian grounds to either care for children or for medical conditions. The women, along with three men similarly released, were fitted with ankle tracking devices. The Hispanic Caucus, all traveling at their own expense, came to eastern Iowa to hear their stories.

The congressional group was led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat and chairman of the caucus’s immigration task force. He was joined by Rep. Joe Baca, a California Democrat and chairman of the caucus, and Rep. Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the caucus’s task force on economic development.

Although wearing one of the tracking devices, Rutila Becerra wasn’t one of the many scheduled speakers on the three-hour program. But when her emotions bubbled over, few needed an English translation to understand the frustration and sorrow her voice contained.

“These women have been here two months, waiting for a response from Immigration [and Customs Enforcement],” she said in an escalating voice as she began to cry. “Please be the voice of these women… who have been condemned to live by charity. We are suffering from psychological pain. We are suffering from depression, and all our little children are infected as well.”

Because the women entered the country without proper documentation, they cannot legally earn wages. Because the women have the ankle devices, they cannot leave. Des Moines immigration attorney Sonia Parras Konrad, who represents many who were in attendance at the meeting, said the federal government told her that it may be January 2009 before the women have a hearing and learn more about their fate.

Sister Mary McCauley, pastoral administrator for the region that includes St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church in Postville, offers a prayer to begin the visit by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Members (from left) who came to Postville are Albio Sires of New Jersey, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Joe Baca of California.

“I couldn’t help myself. There is lots of talk, but no one is really a voice for us or knows what we are going through. We were in the middle of this meeting and I felt it right here,” Becerra said. “At that point I just couldn’t keep quiet any longer and it all just came out.”

She openly wept and her voice shook uncontrollably as she described her son discussing the tracking device and asking if she was a murderer. Her voice rose again and many others in the room wiped tears as she told how men would approach her as if she was a prostitute.

“They say that they know I need the money,” she said.

While the congressmen have all read the news stories and seen the videos of the raid — the largest single-site action in the nation’s history, Gutierrez said coming to Postville and hearing the stories in person was important.

“When I eat vegetables, I know who harvested those vegetables,” Gutierrez told those who gathered Saturday morning in the fellowship hall at St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Postville. “When I eat fruit, I know who’s hands last touched that fruit. When I enter a business and I step on the floor, I know who was there at 1 or 2 in the morning to clean it. When I got to a hotel to sleep, I know who cleaned and arranged that room. I know this in all aspects of my life: This is a human crisis.”

Gutierrez’s indignation was more evident when he spoke in a more private setting after the meeting.

“What people need to understand is that they basically changed the whole processing system,” he said. “They charged [the detained workers] with aggravated criminal identity theft. Yet, there had not been one complaint made to any governmental agency from anyone about their identity being stolen or being misused.”

Baca, who was moved to walk across the room and hug one emotional woman after she told her story, said in an interview after the meeting that he believes the Department of Justice should keep digging.

“Let’s face it, it was a kangaroo court,” he said. “They came in here and they prosecuted individuals within days, but yet [the government] has not done anything to the one that was guilty — and that’s the Agriprocessors company. We need to haul them in. Prosecute them.”

Sires, who declined to say what he believes should happen to plant owners and upper members of management, described his shock at the testimony he heard in Postville.

“I have never in all my years — I’ve been in this country 44 years — I have never heard of any such thing,” he said. “I think if [the Department of Homeland Security] used Postville to send a message to people not to come to this country, I think that is going to backfire. I think that when they write the story of this decade and immigration and they document what ICE has done with this raid, with guns and with shackles — The only wrong thing these people did was trying to get a job and access the American dream.”

“The members of the Hispanic Caucus will have seen firsthand, number one, the effect of the meatpacking plant owners and, what appears to be, them knowingly having illegal people working there,” Latham said in an interview with Iowa Independent. “They will see the impact and the consequences of that. Most importantly to me, they are going to see how devastating this was to the families who have been torn apart — the human impact on these people.”

Three members of the Hispanic Caucus will travel to Postville this Saturday, July 26, and meet with workers at the plant, families and children left behind, detainees who were released with electronic tracking devices, religious leaders and community organizations to hear their stories and bring the findings back to Congress. The group will be led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat and chairman of the caucus’s immigration task force. He will be joined by Rep. Joe Baca, a California Democrat and chairman of the caucus, and Rep. Albio Sires, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the caucus’s task force on economic development.

Latham, a Republican representing Iowa’s 4th District, said he has tried to give Gutierrez “a flavor” of the diverse community and an overview of some of the issues Postville faces in the wake of the immigration raid.

“I had a good conversation — probably 15 or 20 minutes — with Congressman Gutierrez, who is going to be leading the group,” Latham said. “I think the benefit for Postville is the general idea of other members of congress being in that community. Postville was economically, in many ways, devastated by the raid. They will see the effects on the community that the raid has had. That, I think, is very, very positive. I welcome them to come to the district and into Postville. I think it will be very informative.”

In preparing for his visit to Postville, Gutierrez minced few words about what he sees as the problems, and the roadblocks to workable solutions.

“From the White House to the hall of Congress, Republicans love to talk about family values,” Gutierrez said. “But when we storm into the workplace of hardworking individuals and rip parents apart from their children, without regard to safety or the damage to the community at large, we are not respecting family values. In fact, we are doing nothing to fix an immigration system that is quite obviously broken.

“I believe we are better than that. This country is better than that. Instead of tacitly supporting raids on factory workers or janitors or construction workers or maids, this congress should be working to enact real solutions to our immigration problems. It is my sincere hope that in bringing the stories of the parents, children and workers of Postville back to Congress, our lawmakers will see the very real consequences of punitive actions in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform.”

Gutierrez believes that what has been seen in Postville is the end result of an immigration system that is “predicated on fear tactics and piecemeal, deportation-only policies” that worsens the overall immigration crises and creates broken homes.

“The [Bush] Administration may have successfully pandered to anti-immigrant extremists and conservative pundits, but it truly failed nearly 400 hardworking families, who are now left with an impossible daily struggle to feed their children, many of whom are U.S. citizens,” Gutierrez said. “Meanwhile, their employers — who are accused of wage and hour violations, child labor and physical and sexual abuse — face no charges.”

Despite the men attacking the issue from two different vantage points, both Latham and Gutierrez seem to agree that a human face needs to be put on the national immigration debate — and that the face the debate needs might very well be in Postville.

“[The trip by the Hispanic Caucus] will help with the debate back here — in Washington — and really bring home in human terms the impact of not only the way that this raid was conducted, but also just the whole illegal immigrant debate in general,” Latham said.

Postville is home to Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant owned by the Aaron Rubashkin family. The plant was the site of what federal authorities have dubbed the largest single-site immigration raid in the nation’s history. A total of 389 people were detained as a result of the raid. Within 10 days, most had been prosecuted on criminal charges and sentenced to five months in prison.

Only two members of plant middle management are currently facing charges. They are both Hispanic. No members of upper management have been charged.