An overview of the rest...

As a result of time restraints, unfortunately I haven't been able to get all that I want to post here about the immigration raid in Postville. So, I've decided to finally just make a final post on this matter for now.

Thursday and Friday evenings, I went to Postville to assist with the families that had congregated at St. Bridget's Catholic Church. The first night I was there, as soon as we arrived I was directed to assist in a telephone call, where I was to take down all of the names of the men, women, and young adults. At this point, all of the detainees were being shipped out of Waterloo to county jails across the state. My job was to take the names and birthdates of those that had been sent to Dubuque - about 20 individuals, one of them just 16 years old.

The team of volunteers that I was working with was trying to establish a list of all detainees, and to figure out where everybody had been sent to, so they would be able to let family members at least know what had happened to their loved one that had been taken away from them.

That evening I also was assisting in the free clinic they had running out of the church. We saw several women that had been detained, and then released on "humanitarian grounds" - one woman who was breastfeeding her baby, and other woman that were released because their husbands had also been detained, and nobody was left to take care of their children back at home. One woman's case stuck out to me - she was a known diabetic, who hadn't been using her insulin for quite some time because she had run out. She came in with blood sugars off the charts, and a developing wound on her ankle from the tracker bracelet that had been placed on her foot when she was released. It was frustrating and disappointing to see that ICE has been saying they are taking care of all needs for these people, including health care, and then to see cases like this. It is obvious this woman's case had been neglected. Foot wounds for diabetics can turn into pretty serious things, especially if your blood sugars are so out of control, like that woman's were, and I'm sure will continue to be when her insulin runs out the next time.

Friday night when I went back, my task was to work with the family member/friend that was looking for a detainee, go through the database to figure out where they had been sent, to let them know when their first court date was, what the charges were, when their second court appearance would be, who the judge is, and the name of their lawyer. We also spent time with families updating the database we had with their personal info - names, contact numbers, etc - which would then help the people at the church contact their family if something came up. We also worked with the people to help them fill out the necessary paperwork, in the event that they be detained as well, they would at least have the chance to be represented by an immigration lawyer. We also helped them to fill out paperwork to allow the families to get passports for the children who were born in the US, therefore legal citizens. They assisted with this so their children would be allowed to travel across the borders.

My sister and I were able to participate in several of the different prayer services and demonstrations, if you will, that took place that week in Waterloo. We attended a prayer service at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Waterloo, which was followed by a procession out to the National Cattle Congress. This service and procession was to raise national awareness of what had taken place, and to let people speak out and share their story.

We heard several very touching stories from women that had been detained, as they stood beside their children, scared of what the future had in store for their families.

Postville is expecting to lose half of their community due to this raid. One-third of the children will be taken out of the school system. Several stores around town will be closed. Many other community members will become unemployed due to the decreased number of community members.

This is all I have time for. I could go on and on. But I'll end it here. Keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. The Catholic Church in Postville is still looking for financial assistance for these families, as well as for donations of all sorts, if anybody has the desire to get involved and provide some assistance for these people.