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President Bush Must Act to Stop Destruction of Families and Communities Through Raids and Deportations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 12, 2008WASHINGTON, DC – In response to Monday’s raid by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Postville, Iowa, FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) released the following statement:
“We stand with the families of Postville, Iowa torn apart by Monday’s massive immigration raid. Nearly 400 hard working immigrants, already exploited in deplorable working conditions, now find their lives turned upside down by a quasi-military operation in our own heartland. At a time when the nation’s economy is already fragile, especially in smaller communities across the nation, it is outrageous that this Administration would use American tax dollars to turn community cattle auction grounds into an immigration detention camp.
“We urge President Bush and the Presidential candidates to take a stand for humane and rational immigration policy and to put an immediate stop to these raids that have done nothing to fix our broken immigration system. Dividing families, sewing fear in communities and herding hundreds of people in chains onto cattle grounds are an insult to our nation’s values.
“We stand for a set of values that respects the civil liberties of all Americans, values workers and worker protections, and brings Americans – immigrant and non-immigrant alike – together to address the issues that we all face. Postville was founded by German and Norwegian immigrants, and then in 1987 economically revived by Hasidic Jews that built the largest Kosher meat packing plant in the town. Now many Guatemalan, Mexican, Ukrainian, and Russian immigrants work at the plant, attend schools, and fill Postville’s churches. Instead of integrating immigrants into the life of our nation, our government is disintegrating and destroying whole communities.”
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FIRM (Fair Immigration Reform Movement) is a coalition of grassroots community organizations nationwide, including statewide immigrant rights coalitions, organizing networks, faith-based groups, and low-income and other networks organized around ethnicity or national origin organizations, working on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform and immigrant rights. FIRM is convened by the Center for Community Change.Files available for download:
