Big immigration raid in 2008 pushed the issue and made Iowa reporters do much more with it

Fermin Loyes was deported in the raid, but has reunited with
family in Postville. (Photo: Kaitlyn Bernauer, The Gazette)

A federal raid of a meatpacking plant in the small town of Postville, Iowa, in 2008 may have been the catalyst for putting the need for immigration reform back in the national spotlight, and for creating a new breed of journalists who became experts at covering the immigration debate, especially from the human-interest point of view, Deron Lee reports for Columbia Journalism Review.

The raid led to the arrest of 400 workers, who were the victims of deplorable working conditions, and ended up getting caught in the justice system, where they were separated from their families, imprisoned, and deported. The raid decimated the town’s immigrant-heavy population, and its economy, Lee reports.

The raid also changed the way journalists covered immigration, reports Lee. "In a state with a small (though exponentially growing) immigrant population, reporters may not have felt the need to engage with immigration on a local level had Postville not lifted the veil on the shadow world of migrant laborers in the heartland." Jens Manuel Krogstad, who reported on the raid for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, and still covers Postville for The Des Moines Register, said “I think that was a springboard to a lot of immigration coverage.”

Apdullahi Hassan, in his Postville convenience
store, is one of many Somalis who have moved
to the area since the raid. (Bernauer photo)

Trish Mehaffey, who covered the fifth anniversary of the raid last month for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, told Lee: “I think the Postville raid brought to light the fact that there needed to be changes, because it kind of ruined that town. It really opens your eyes to see how something like that can affect a whole community."

Journalists covering the scene also did something unusual, by interviewing the immigrants, Lee . What the reporters came away with was stories that turned stats and figures into real people with real stories. "The inherent difficulty in reporting on unauthorized immigrants is that most don’t want to be seen," Lee wrotes. "But when opportunities have arisen to talk to undocumented workers . . . Iowa reporters have taken the initiative." (Read more)

In wake of record raid, more information emerging about Iowa packing plant with many immigrants

Details from a May raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Postville, Iowa, continue to emerge as investigations continue. Henry C. Jackson writes for The Associated Press that the raid "scarred a small town and tore families apart." More than 20 of the 389 illegal immigrants rounded up in the raid were under-age workers, many of whom are telling investigators about their jobs, Julia Preston reports for The New York Times. More than 1,000 people attended a Postville immigration-reform rally on Sunday, Lynda Waddington writes for the Iowa Independent, which has reported extensively on this story raid. Opponents, below, also protested. (Iowa Independent photos)

The raid at Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacker, was the largest of its kind in U.S. history and "has drawn criticism for what some see as harsh tactics against the immigrants, with little action taken against their employers," Preston writes. "But in the aftermath of the arrests, labor investigators have reaped a bounty of new evidence from testimony of illegal immigrants, teenagers and adults, who were caught in the raid. In formal declarations, immigrants have described pervasive labor violations at the plant," which could lead to criminal charges against Agriprocessors' executives. Elmer L., a Guatemalan who was 16 when he started working on the plant's killing floors, said, "They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained."

Agriprocessors issued a statement saying the company did not employ workers under 18 and would fire any under-age worker who presented false documents to secure employment. Sonia Parras Konrad, a Des Moines lawyer representing many of the young workers and, says she has identified 27 who were under 18. Other possible violations include sexual harassment and wage and hour violations.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus heard three hours of often emotional testimony criticizing immigration officials, the Department of Homeland Security and Agriprocessors while visiting Postville on Saturday. "Women whose husbands are being detained talked about their longing to be reunited, underage workers detailed deplorable working conditions and city and religious officials lamented the impact on the community," Jackson writes for the AP. Postville Mayor Robert Penrod encouraged the congressmen to tell others in Washington that immigration raids do not work. "This raid did nothing for this community," he said. "It downgraded us substantially. It caused people to suffer, and it caused our reputation to suffer clear across the country." Read past Postville-related items from the Rural Blog here.

Weekly newspapers covered Agriprocessors Inc. and its big immigration raid differently than dailies

The weekly Postville Herald-Leader in Iowa faced an unexpected challenge last May when the town suddenly became the center of a then-record immigration raid and a symbol for the nation's immigration debate. An article in Grassroots Editor, published by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, highlights the work of the Herald-Leader and other weeklies in covering the raid at Agriprocessors Inc. and its aftermath.

Agriprocessors was a story years before the raid. The company began in 1987, and, by 1996, had become the "world's largest kosher slaughterhouse." With the resulting "influx of Hasidic Jews and an international workforce, the town came to be seen as an experiment in multicultural living," writes Patricia Berg. "In a region almost entirely populated by Christians descended from German and Norwegian immigrants, Postville had suddenly become a mosaic of Anglo Christians, Jews, Latinos and Eastern Europeans." University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom wrote a book about it, Postville.

With this year's raid, however, Postville was national news, with major dailies focusing on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and immigration policy. Local weeklies not only had to report that story, but also lived the story, as friends and neighbors were arrested and deported. "Even a few miles down the road their perspective is different from mine, because they don't live right here," said Sharon Drahn, editor of the Herald-Leader. The dedication required to report on many of the stories still emerging from the raid is also much harder on local staff. Janell Bradley, owner and editor of three area weeklies, says that she has begun studying Spanish three nights a week, so that she is no longer dependent on interpreters.

Gerald Blue, editor of the Fayette County Union, 15 miles from Postville, says that weeklies' proximity to the story has enabled them to report areas of progress. "The dailies chose to ignore anything that was positive" about Agriprocessors, he said. He says that while daily papers did not report on company changes for the better, such as a new staffing agency, the weekly papers did. (Read more)

Criminal prosecutions in largest-ever raid signal feds' tougher attitude toward illegal immigration

Prosecutions stemming from the nation's largest-ever criminal immigration raid "signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants arrested," writes Julia Preston of The New York Times. "Until now, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported."

Raiders of the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, detained 389 workers, mostly from Guatemala. Yesterday, the prosecutions of 297 who pleaded guilty ended, with 270 being sentenced to five months in prison for working with false documents and 27 getting probation. "The large number of criminal cases was remarkable because immigration violations generally fall under civil statutes. Until now, relatively few immigrants caught in raids have been charged with federal crimes like identity theft or document fraud," Preston reports. "No charges have been brought against managers or owners at Agriprocessors, but there were indications that prosecutors were also preparing a case against the company. In pleading guilty, immigrants had to agree to cooperate with any investigation."

The plant, the largest U.S. producer of kosher meat, has long been controversial. "Since 2004, the plant has faced repeated sanctions for environmental and worker safety violations. It was the focus of a 2006 exposé in The Jewish Daily Forward and a commission of inquiry that year by Conservative Jewish leaders," Preston reports. "In Postville, workers from the plant, still feeling aftershocks from the raid, said conditions there were often harsh. In interviews, they said they were often required to work overtime and night shifts, sometimes up to 14 hours a day, but were not consistently paid for the overtime." (Read more)

The raid has prompted much action and discussion in Postville's religious community, reports Karen Heinselman of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. "Last week, Christian radio station manager Doug Smith of 101.9 KNWS challenged listeners to examine immigration in the context of faith, removed from politics," she writes. Smith asked, "Can we help our nation craft policies that respect our laws and our right of border protection while at the same time treating people with respect and compassion?" (Read more) The station is one of 15 owned by Northwestern College of St. Paul, Minn., a liberal-arts school with a Baptist heritage.

UPDATE, June 2: "Federal law enforcement agencies have increased criminal prosecutions of immigration violators to record levels, in part by filing minor charges against virtually every person caught illegally crossing some stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to new U.S. data," Spencer Hsu reports for The Washington Post. (Read more)

Do fewer charges in Mississippi immigration raid signal policy shift? Justice Department says no

Of the nearly 400 suspected illegal immigrants were held during the May raid on the Postville, Iowa, processing plant, 300 were charged in criminal court. By contrast, only eight have been charged in the Laurel, Miss., raid that saw 600 detained, a move that may signal a shift in the Bush administration's approach to illegal immigration.

The Washington Post's Spencer S. Hsu reports that the Postville process raised questions about due process from criminal defense and immigration lawyers. Most of those charges resulted in five-month sentences. By contrast, most of those detained in the raid at Howard Industries in Mississippi faced civil deportation proceedings instead of criminal charges.

Despite the difference in the number of the criminal proceedings in the two cases, officials deny any policy shift. The Department of Justice "has not changed policies or procedures regarding immigration enforcement actions," said Carrie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Instead, decisions in each situation "were made by prosecutors in the field based on the facts and circumstances of each case." (Read more)

Hundreds of immigrants arrested in raid on Iowa meatpacking plant; largest ever at a single site

Around 390 workers were arrested by federal agents Monday at a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa. The AgriProcessors facility, the country's largest kosher packing plant, was temporally shut down in the raid's aftermath.

Josh Nelson wrote in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that the raid "now ranks as the largest one ever targeting a single site." The majority of those arrested came from Guatemala and were male. Charges range "from aggravated identity theft to fraudulent use of a Social Security number. The amount of people facing criminal charges could increase as the investigation continues." (Courier photo by Matthew Putney)

Susan Saulny reported in The New York Times, "The raid had been planned for months and was conducted in coordination with local law enforcement." Mark Gray, a professor who focuses on immigration at the University of Northern Iowa, told Saulny, "It's absolutely devastating to the local economy."

The Associated Press reported that immigration rights activists feared such a raid would come. "Several activists gathered Sunday at a Waterloo church and at the home of a local social worker to discuss what they consider to be an impending raid." The activists dicussed strategies for child care and identifying detainees in the event of a raid, and distributed flyers to migrant workers that provided contact information for local immigration attorneys and details of what they should do if confronted by police.

For the Iowa Independent, Doug Burns interviews University of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom, author of Postville, "which examines a cultural calamity in the small, predominantly Lutheran town after Lubavitcher Jews settled there to run the local slaughterhouse, resurrecting the local economy but shaking up life for the rural Iowans who already lived there." Bloom tells Burns the illegal workforce was an open secret. "The only way the meat-packing industry could operate in Iowa was this way, since fewer and fewer Iowans want to work for minimum wage, doing such back-breaking work with such few benefits (if any)," he said. "The question wasn't whether the raids were going to happen. It was when." (Read more)

Rural nursing homes closing because they can't find staff, uprooting residents who thought they had a forever home

Marjorie Kruger and son Dan White at the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan
Society nursing home in Waukon, Iowa. (Photo by Tony Leys, Kaiser Health News)

Rural nursing homes are closing due to shortages of workers, and "The problem could deepen as pandemic-era government assistance dries up and care facilities struggle to compete with rising wages offered by other employers, industry leaders and analysts predict," reports Tony Leys of Kaiser Health News.

"Many care centers that have managed to remain open are keeping some beds vacant because they don’t have enough workers to responsibly care for more residents," Leys reports, noting shortages of "nurses, nursing assistants, and kitchen employees."

Last year, 13 of the 15 Iowa nursing homes that closed "were in rural areas, according to the Iowa Health Care Association," Leys reports. Brent Willett, the association’s president, told Leys, “In more sparsely populated areas, it’s harder and harder to staff those facilities,” partly because many rural areas have fewer working-age adults.

The closure of a nursing home or assisted-living facility can have traumatic effects on residents and their families. "The lack of open nursing home beds is marooning some patients in hospitals for weeks while social workers seek placements," Leys reports. "More people are winding up in care facilities far from their hometowns, especially if they have dementia, obesity, or other conditions that require extra attention."

Leys starts his story with Marjorie Kruger, 98, who "was stunned to learn last fall that she would have to leave the nursing home where she’d lived comfortably for six years" in Postville. She told him, “The rug was taken out from under me. I thought I was going to stay there the rest of my life.” Her son found her another home, "but she misses her friends and longtime staffers from the old one," Leys writes. "The Postville facility’s former residents are scattered across northeastern Iowa. Some were forced to move twice, after the first nursing home they transferred to also went out of business."

Iowa town more diverse after big immigration raid

An unexpected result of the immigration raid on a Postville, Iowa, processing plant in May is that the town has become more diverse, Lynda Waddington reports for The Iowa Independent. After more than 300 workers, mostly from Guatemala, were arrested for working with false documentation, the town saw an influx of immigrants from a variety of countries seeking to fill the vacated jobs.

Waddington describes this new Postville, with new residents from countries from Russia to Somalia: "The once thriving Hispanic grocery store ... has downsized and reduced its hours of operation." She interviewed a few young men from Palau, who asked not to be named though the country's status as a former U.S. territory eases immigration. "The men are quick to point out that they are legal employees, that they have gone through proper channels to come and work here," Waddington writes. "They’ve heard news reports about the immigration raid and how those employees have described their treatment at Agriprocessors. 'When you don’t have the right papers, employers think they can do whatever they want,” said a 20-something man.'" (Read more)

First charges, alleging child-labor violations, levied against meatpacker caught in immigration raid

Iowa officials have filed child-labor charges against the owner and four executives of the Postville, Iowa, processing plant where almost 400 workers were arrested in May on suspicion of illegal immigration. Each was charged with 9,311 violations of child-labor laws. Two of the executives, human resource employees, were also charged with falsifying paperwork for people they allegedly knew were in the country illegally. These are the first charges faced for leaders of Agriprocessors. The charges involve 32 minors, seven of whom were under 16. They allegedly operated dangerous equipment and were exposed to dangerous chemicals. A company spokesman said the workers lied about their age and produced false paperwork.

Julia Preston of The New York Times reports, "The complaint also charges that under-age workers were not paid for all the overtime they worked and were forced to work before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m., a violation of child labor laws." Preston writes. "Many of the young workers are illegal immigrants who are seeking special visas, known as U-visas, to remain in the United States to cooperate with the investigation."

Over the past few months, many have questioned why only the workers have faced charges after the May raid. Tony Leys and Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register cite Delia Junach, a worker whose husband was arrested in the May raid: "She has nothing against plant managers personally. They gave her and her husband jobs that weren't available elsewhere, and she still appreciates it. But she said if Agriprocessors' workers had to face charges, so should the bosses. 'It's fair,' she said in Spanish." (Read more)

The Rural Blog's previous coverage of the Postville raid: Hundreds of immigrants arrested in raid on Iowa meatpacking plant; largest ever at a single site (May 14) Criminal prosecutions in largest-ever raid signal feds' tougher attitude toward illegal immigration (May 24) Raided meatpacker was repeatedly notified that workers were using bogus Social Security numbers (May 25) Feds arrest two Hispanic supervisors of Iowa plant that was scene of largest immigration raid yet (July 4) In wake of record raid, more information emerging about Iowa (July 28) Iowa governor blasts packer hit by nation's largest immigration raid; state alleges safety violations (Aug. 25)

The high cost of immigration enforcement

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, taxpayers paid $5.2 million through Aug. 21 for the May 12 raid of the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, reports William Patroski of The Des Moines Register.

The cost of the raid, $13,396 for each of the 389 illegal immigrants taken into custody, has sparked fresh debate about immigration reform. Scott Frotman, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, told Patroski, "It raised serious due process issues, and it may have compromised federal investigations into labor abuses by the company's management."

On the other side of the debate some feel that failure to enforce immigration laws will simply be an impetus for more illegal immigration. U.S. Rep. Steve King, a very conservative Iowa Republican, told Patroski, "If we start saying, 'Well, it costs too much money to enforce the law,' then we will see more and more of these radical, pro-illegal immigration activists drive more wedges between us and make it harder to enforce the law." (Read more) For earlier posts on aid on The Rural Blog about the raid, click here, here and here.

Feds arrest two Hispanic supervisors of Iowa plant that was scene of largest immigration raid yet

Two supervisors at the meatpacking plant targeted in the country's largest immigration raid were arrested Thursday on charges that they helped illegal immigrans use false Social Security numbers and resident alien cards, and a third supervisor appears to be on the lam.

The man being sought, Hosam Amara,"according to former plant workers, was the master-mind behind a car sales scheme that encouraged undocumented workers to purchase used cars and fraudulently register them," Lynda Waddington reports for the Iowa Independent. Arrested were Martin De La Rosa-Loera, 43, who "was in charge of the poultry facility and three other departments at Agriprocessors" in Postville, and Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, who "supervised beef kill as well as three other departments at the plant," Waddington writes. The latter is a U.S. citizen; the foirmer's immigration status is unknown.

The indictment charges that a few days before the May 12 raid, "Guerrero-Espinoza told a group of employees that they needed new identification and Social Security numbers in order to continue working at the plant," Waddington reports. "He then, according to testimony, told the workers that they would need to provide him with a photograph and $200 or $220. Fraudulent resident alien cards were allegedly supplied to Agriprocessors workers."

Agriprocessors, "the dominant kosher food company in the nation, is owned by the Rubashkin family, a politically-connected clan from Brooklyn, N.Y.," Waddington notes. "Sholom Rubashkin stepped down as the company’s CEO after the raid that resulted in the arrest of 389 undocumented workers, most of whom were convicted of criminal wrongdoing and will be deported." (Read more)

But not just yet. Critics and supporters of the raid agree that "It's surprising that 304 immigrants are serving jail sentences instead of being deported immediately," and both sides "say the decision marks a significant change: in) federal enforcement attitudes, Tony Leys reports for the Des Moines Register. "Most of the immigrants arrested at the Agriprocessors plant were sentenced to spend five months in jail before being sent home. Some interviewed in jail said they hope to be sent home sooner than that, but lawyers on both sides said that's unlikely to happen. . . . Federal prosecutors won't talk about why they decided to push for jail time." Natalie Wettstein, legal director for the American Immigration Law Foundation, which works with defense lawyers, "questioned why the federal government is spending millions of tax dollars to imprison non-violent immigrants whose only crime was using false papers to work." (Read more) (Register photo)

Raided meatpacker was repeatedly notified that workers were using bogus Social Security numbers

"The politically-connected meatpacking company where almost 400 undocumented workers were arrested earlier this month ignored repeated government warnings about the use of false identification papers amongst its employees," according to an affadavit by a federal agent, Lynda Waddington reports for the online Iowa Independent.

The agent swore that Agriprocessors Inc. "received a dozen letters from the Social Security Administration in 2005 and 2006," Waddington writes. "The letters stated that up to 78 percent of the businesses' workforce provided Social Security information that did not match with government records." Immigration agent David Hoagland said, "Agriprocessors has repeatedly been made aware that large numbers of its employees were using Social Security numbers that have discrepancies for each tax year from 2000 to 2005."

Waddington's story details the many political contributions made by owners of the plant in Postville, Iowa. It remains to be seen whether they will face criminal prosecution, as more than 300 workers at the plant have. At a forum sponsored by La Prensa, a Spanish-language paper in western Iowa, immigration lawyer Jo Ann Barten predicted similar raids, perhaps soon, reports the Independent's Doug Burns. He and LaPrensa Editor Lorena Lopez collaborated on a story for her paper about the raid. To read it, click here.

Immigration raid nets hundreds, this time in Miss.

UPDATE, Aug. 27: The number of detainees is now 595, making it the largest immigration raid ever in the U.S., and it could go even higher. The Laurel Leader Call quotes ICE Communications Director Barbara Gonzalez as saying: "This is probably the largest single site target for law enforcement."

For the second time in three months, a major immigration raid has led to the holding of 350 or more suspected illegal immigrants. This latest raid, which follows the May detention of a record 389 workers at a food processing plant in Postville, Iowa, took place at a transformer plant in Laurel, Miss., a town of 18,000. Warrants were also served at the company's local headquarters. "The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed 350 people suspected as being illegal immigrants working at Howard Industries were found during a raid Monday," reports Jason Niblett of the Laurel Leader Call.

The paper notes that on Friday, the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance warned of an impending raid in the area: “A series of preparations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Gulf Coast has local advocates on edge about the possibility of yet another worksite raid .. " Bill Chandler, the executive director of the alliance, said the group is now "responding with humanitarian aid to the family members of the arrested.” (Read more)

Adam Nossiter of The New York Times notes that the Iowa raid "was a significant escalation of the Bush administration’s enforcement practices because those detained were not simply deported, as in previous raids, but were imprisoned for months on criminal charges of using false documents."

Iowa fines meat plant big over wage violations; beef slaughtering stops; former CEO charged

The state of Iowa is imposing fines totaling almost $10 million on the Postville plant that was the site of a record-breaking immigration raid in May. The Iowa Department of Labor is imposing penalties for Agriprocessors' violation of wage laws.

Deductions for "sales tax/miscellaneous" items and frocks were made from employees' paychecks, and the company failed to pay final paychecks to 42 employees after the May raid. The total fines for these violations total $9,988,200. That total does not include the $264,786.45 owed in back wages. Agriprocessors has 30 days to contest the fines, and Meatingplace.com reports that the Labor Department says a separate investigation of the company could lead to further fines.

Greg Schulte and Philip Brasher of The Des Moines Register say the fines only add to the uncertainty over whether Agriprocessors will survive, already called into question by a shortage of workers willing to work at the plant. A company spokesman said its beef-slaughtering operation has been shut down this week due to financial constraints. (Read more)

Meanwhile, Agriprocessors' former vice-president and CEO, Sholom Rubashkin, has been charged with "conspiring to harbor one or more illegal aliens at his place of business, knowingly accepted fraudulent identification documents and aided and abetted identity theft," reports Bob Meyer of Brownfield Network.

Expert calls Agriprocessors abbatoirs 'sloppy'

On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, slaughterhouse expert Dr. Temple Grandin toured the Agriprocessors plants in Postville, Iowa, and Gordon, Neb., and deemed the facilities "sloppy" in an article written by Lynda Waddington for The Iowa Independent. Waddington did not say if PETA paid Grandin.

Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, is well-known for her extensive research of animal behavior, particularly in slaughterhouses. She claims her experience has taught her about three categories of facilities. "About 20 percent do things right nearly all the time. There is a large percentage that do things right most of the time, and there's also about 20 percent that tend to do things wrong, but will clean up their act when they are being audited," she said. "Within that bottom 20 percent, however, there is a very bottom 10 percent that has the most blatant problems and violations. That's where Agriprocessors is -- in that bottom 10 percent." The plant was the site of a huge immigration raid this year and is the largest kosher meat plant in the nation.

As a result of her findings, Grandin thinks all Agriprocessors facilities should be equipped with cameras to hold plant administration and personnel accountable for their treatment of animals. "We have management at Agriprocessors that has been reapeat offenders and have given us proof that they will not only behave when they know they are being watched," she said. Read the rest of the story here; for PETA's report, click here.

Iowa governor blasts packer hit by nation's largest immigration raid; state alleges safety violations

Iowa's governor is winning kudos for an op-ed piece sharply criticizing the operators of the kosher meatpacking plant that was the site of the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. "Several business and political experts said the governor's words were justified," reports Tony Leys of The Des Moines Register, which published Gov. Chet Culver's article Sunday.

The Democratic governor, elected in 2006, went so far as to compare the Agriprocessors Inc. facility in Postville (Encarta map) to the plants exposed 100 years ago by novelist Upton Sinclair in The Jungle. "There will be no industrial 'jungles' in Iowa on my watch," he wrote. To read his column, click here. Today, the company invited Culver to the plant, Leys reports.

Culver took Agriprocessors off state job-listing services, saying the company "has chosen to take advantage of a failed federal immigration system. ... Before the federal raid, Agriprocessors already had a history of sanctions by Iowa's state regulatory agencies for water pollution, as well as health and safety law violations. ... This company's owners have deliberately chosen to take the low road in its business practices." The state has proposed a $101,000 fine for 31 safety violations at the plant. For the Register's story on that, click here.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Julie Myers "said the agency and industry need to partner to ensure compliance with the related laws," Tom Johnston of MeatingPlace.com reports from a directors' meeting of the National Meat Association. "Though she acknowledged that effective immigration law is lacking in the United States, Myers said companies are best to approach ICE and demonstrate the intent to cooperate and legalize their labor forces." (Read more)