People of Postville see a complicated picture

This small town in Iowa has a large meat processing plant and workers who immigrated from many countries. A raid in May that rounded up many illegal workers has caused social upheaval in the area. Some residents support what the plant owners did, others would like to see the plant leave town. DP

By MIKE KILEN, DesMoinesRegister.com

desmoinesregister.com: Postville, Ia. — Imagine this is your hometown, population 2,320, in the middle of hilly Iowa farm country.

Walk down the street and it might appear exciting at first.

African natives wear colorful robes, and Hasidic Jews white ones. African-Americans from southern U.S. cities hang out open second-story windows on Main Street. Pacific Islanders chew and spit a concoction - beetle nut and tobacco wrapped in leaves - popular in their tiny island country of Palau. Among them are Guatemalan women who wear ankle bracelets because they were arrested in The Raid.

All mingle near a massage parlor where a real estate agent's office once stood.

Perhaps no small town in Iowa, or even in America, has faced a social upheaval as drastic as that of Postville.

For the last 20 years, one business has created an ever-shifting population and changed the dynamics of a largely white, northeast Iowa farm town.

After federal agents rounded up 389 illegal immigrants at Agriprocessors in May, a controversial summer led to a fall of new, louder dissatisfaction. One researcher says the town has become "a slaughterhouse slum."

Yet when you talk to longtime residents, you find some who voice opposing views based on the hard reality of economics.

"This town would be in a world of hurt if that plant closed," said Jeff Mott, owner of the local hardware store.

Others have simply had enough.

"I was for Agriprocessors when they came here," said Fred Comeau, owner of the Brick Pizza & Eatery. "Today, I would help them pack. They have destroyed Postville."
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