Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
By LORENA LOPEZ and DOUGLAS BURNS
DENISON — Several frightened Hispanics, some crying with kids clearly in the background, made frantic telephone calls to a western Iowa Spanish-language paper over the last two days seeking information on what they mistakenly believed to be the start of a Postville-style raid in Denison, a community with a burgeoning Hispanic population and heavy packing-house presence.La Prensa, based in Carroll and with its most concentrated distribution in nearby Denison and Storm Lake, received the first call early Wednesday from a Spanish-speaking employee of a packing house in Denison who said he saw other workers being carted off in handcuffs. That event apparently sparked a rumor and something of a phone tree in the Hispanic community there.
Shortly after the initial call to La Prensa a Denison woman, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed through tears her belief that a raid may be under way. La Prensa received the last two calls — to this point — on Thursday from concerned employees.
Tim Counts, a Midwest spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Iowa Independent that the Sioux City field office — which has jurisdiction over Denison — and the Omaha, Neb., office were not involved in any special investigations or raids in Denison.
“We’re not conducting any sort of large-scale work site operation,” Counts said when told about reports from Denison.
He said the reaction in Denison is not surprising considering the Postville raid is still very much in many people’s minds.
“It is quite common for rumors to run rampant after we conduct an operation such as the one we ran in Postville,” Counts said.
Counts was quick to point out that it is very possible that individual immigration officers are pursuing specific cases in Denison. The fact that there is not presently a large raid under way doesn’t mean ICE isn’t maintaining an ongoing presence in Denison.
Another possibility is that Denison employers, fearful of being targeted, are stepping up their own document verification efforts. One major packing house official in Denison who was reached by phone declined to comment on the record but gave no indication that any raid was under way.
(Editor’s Note: Lorena Lopez is the editor of La Prensa. Douglas Burns is a fellow with Iowa Independent.)
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