Postville: The Aftermath Of The Largest Immigration Raid In US History

America First – a new documentary by The Intercept and Univision – tells the story of Postville, Iowa, where the largest raid on illegal immigrants in US history took place. On May 12th, 2008 ICE agents stormed into AgriProcessor, one of the biggest kosher meat packing plants in the country. The operation – which included several helicopters flying over the town – cost $5 million.

Almost 400 people were arrested that day. Most of them were Guatemalan. They were processed as criminals for identity fraud, spent 6 months in federal prisons and were then deported to their home country.

The raid had a profound negative impact on Postville's economy. After the plant lost so many of its workers it went bankrupt. Many other undocumented immigrants who had other jobs in smaller businesses decided to leave as well, fearing the authorities would come back for them. Postville lost half of its population within days and many families were broken apart.

The ones that remained came together and through hard work and resilience helped the town get back up on its feet. The meat packing plant changed its name and reopened after hiring a large number of Somali refugees who have now made Postville more diverse and multicultural than ever before.

You would expect that after having lived through such an experience no one in Postville would oppose immigration. But some people do. And some of them, 58% of the town's population, to be precise, voted for Donald Trump. His administration has now been carrying on similar raids like the one Postville suffered all across the country.