Friday, July 22, 2011

In Iowa town immigrants transformed, hope outweighs fear

Even though immigrants are more than half of this town's population, they are all getting along together. They understand how to appreciate each other's culture. - - Donna Poisl

By James B. Kelleher

WEST LIBERTY, Iowa -- (Reuters) - The Hispanic population in this small town in eastern Iowa has surged in recent years as immigrants from Latin America have come to work in a local turkey slaughterhouse.

In 2010, the town's many Hispanic residents officially grew to 52 percent of West Liberty's population, according to the U.S. Census. That made the town of 3,700 people the first white-minority community this overwhelmingly Caucasian state has seen in nearly 100 years.
Click on the headline above to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.

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