NWC to show movie about Postville immigration raid

Northwestern College will host a showing of AbUSed: The Postville Raid, followed by a discussion with the film’s critically acclaimed director, Luis Argueta, on Monday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in Christ Chapel.

The event is being planned by students on the college’s Enlaces en Cristo campus ministry team. It is free and open to community members.

In May 2008, around 900 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents traveled to Postville, Iowa, to conduct a raid on Agriprocessors Inc., the largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant in the country. In what was supposed to be a model for future raids, the ICE agents detained 389 undocumented workers, the majority of whom were imprisoned and eventually deported.

Argueta’s documentary is a collection of interviews with the deported immigrants and their families, some of which are now split between Guatemala and the U.S., and the residents of Postville, a town that experienced a severe economic crisis after Agriprocessors, facing a worker shortage, declared bankruptcy.

Argueta also interviewed Postville citizens like Sister Mary McCauley of St. Bridget’s Church, who ministered to families torn apart by the raid and became an advocate for immigration reform policies that respect both the law and human rights.

Information about AbUSed, including a movie trailer, is available on the documentary’s website, www.abusedthepostvilleraid.com.