Postville beefs up police presence for immigration rally

No matter which side of the national immigration debate you’re on, this weekend will be a big one in Postville.

On Saturday three members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will visit with community leaders and families affected by the unprecedented May 12 immigration raid and take their findings back to Congress. On Sunday opposing viewpoints in the national immigration debate are expected to collide during a rally designed to call for comprehensive immigration reform.

“I wouldn’t say that we are anticipating trouble or violence,” said Postville Police Chief Michael Halse in a telephone interview Thursday evening. “But we realize that when you have two groups of people, each passionate about a message, there is a potential for conflict.”

Conservative estimates from individuals on both extremes of the debate have the town’s current population of 2,300 temporary swelling on Sunday to 3,300 or more. The numbers alone were enough for Halse to contact neighboring law enforcement agencies for assistance.

Halse said he’s spoken with both local and state agencies. To his knowledge, there will be no federal presence in Postville on Sunday.

“Our department hasn’t requested assistance from any federal agencies,” he said.

The rally comes nearly three months after an immigration raid at Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meatpacker and Postville’s largest employer. Nearly 400 workers were detained in the raid, most of them from Guatemala. Of those detained, 300 had pleaded guilty to criminal charges within 10 days. Since the raid, three members of middle management have been indicted. Two of those are remanded until a September trial date, but appealing that decision. The third has fled the jurisdiction.

The immigration reform rally will begin at St. Bridget's Catholic Church at 1 p.m. with a prayer vigil.

The rally, which was originally organized by Catholic and Jewish groups from Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, was advertised as a prayer vigil and march through the Postville community.

“[The rally] is a call for social justice,” said Sister Mary McCauley, pastoral administrator for the region that includes St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church in Postville. “This is a call to be faithful to our American and religious values.”

The Sunday rally, which was made public during a special City Council meeting when Paul Rael, director of the Hispanic Ministry at St. Bridget’s, requested permission from elected officials for the event. Since the vigil and subsequent march were planned on property that was either public or owned by the church, Rael was not required to obtain a permit. Organizing groups for the original rally are St. Bridget’s; Jewish Community Action of St. Paul, Minn.; and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs of Chicago.

Gathering information and reporting the names of the organizations involved with the counter-rally hasn’t been as transparent a process.

The pro-enforcement rally is also scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Postville City Hall, roughly two blocks north of the church.

Since the City of Postville does not currently require waivers or permits for these types of gatherings, there are no documents registered with the city clerk. Halse, however, said that he has been contacted by two groups: St. Bridget’s and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Susan Tully, a national field director for FAIR, was a Thursday guest on the Jan Mickelson radio show and indicated that her group is planning a counter-rally. In addition a loose-knit blog coalition, Blogs for Borders, has been attempting to raise funds to send members into Postville on Sunday.

Tully, who did not respond to a media request from Iowa Independent, said in a prepared statement that her organization will be in Postville on Sunday “to show show that millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules applaud efforts to finally enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”