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.
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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.
Taxpayers spent more than $5 million on Postville immigration raid
Steve King
Nearly 400 workers were detained by immigration officials at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant on May 12. The enforcement operation and subsequent deporations have cost taxpayers at least $5 million, although all costs are not yet known.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican who represents Iowa’s 5th District, said that government agencies must enforce immigration laws, regardless of expense to taxpayers.
“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,” King told William Petroski of the Des Moines Register.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded to a freedom of information request from the Register, telling the newspaper that the agency’s expenditures totaled $5,211,092 as of Aug. 21. Of the 389 people detained by federal authorities, 302 were quickly charged and convicted of criminal wrongdoing, primarily related to identity theft.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat representing Iowa’s 1st District, has questioned various aspects related to the immigration raid since the enforcement took place. Like the media, his requests for detailed cost expenditures for the Postville and Marshalltown immigration raids have not been fully answered.
The $5.2 million figure quoted by the Register does not include costs associated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, local Postville authorities or the U.S. Department of Labor investigation into possible wage discrepencies at the plant.
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