The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 22      June 2, 2008

 
(front page)
Socialist candidate joins
protests in Iowa against raid
 
Militant/Jenny Shegos
SWP vice presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy at May 18 protest in Waterloo, Iowa.

BY FRANK FORRESTAL  
POSTVILLE, Iowa—Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. vice president, visited this town May 20 to extend solidarity to workers at the Agriprocessors Inc. slaughterhouse, where immigration cops arrested nearly 400 workers May 12.

Outside St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Kennedy talked to an Agriprocessors worker who had been detained and later released by the government. This worker, who asked that the Militant not print her name out of fear of retaliation, said she knew of 49 women and 3 or 4 male workers who were released but are forced to wear ankle bracelets. Kennedy said the socialist campaign favors legalization for all immigrants without conditions.

“In Postville and surrounding towns, the people are divided on the issue of what to do about immigration,” Lyle Otte told Kennedy. Otte is a retired teacher who is helping the families of the arrested workers.

Going door-to-door in a trailer park, Kennedy was introduced to Alicia Vega Ortiz, whose 19-year-old son was rounded up in the May 12 raid. Along with a busload of Agriprocessors workers, Ortiz marched in the Waterloo rally and addressed the crowd, denouncing the arrests.

“People like you are leading the way forward,” said Kennedy. “We can win if we keep fighting to build a movement that demands legalization. There were a good number of people who’ve lived their whole lives in Iowa who joined the protest. There was unity there that we can build on. More and more are seeing the raids as attacks on all of us.”
 
 
Related articles:
Workers in Iowa march against ICE factory raid
Iowa workers talk about raid, plant conditions  
 
 
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