Perry, Iowa: Is it the next ICE target?

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Town Wonders if it's Next to Face Immigration Raid

By HENRY C. JACKSON
The Associated Press/Washington Post
Tuesday, August 26, 2008; 10:00 AM

PERRY, Iowa -- Immigration agents had barely left Postville when word hit Perry, about 200 miles to the southwest, that another raid was coming.

The rumor, which turned out to be false, spread like prairie fire through this central Iowa city's Hispanic community, reflecting a new reality for many small towns that can't be shaken.

In places like Perry, where Hispanics now make up at least a quarter of the population, residents are left wondering, "Are we next?"

"We are more vulnerable now," asked Angelica Cardenas, 28, who works in Perry's school system. "There is always fear of something like this, but with these raids, we know now it's real."

The government's shift to high-profile immigration raids _ 389 people were arrested at Postville's Agriprocessors Inc. on May 12, and 350 were rounded up at Howard Industries Inc. of Laurel, Miss., on Monday _ has instilled fear in towns across the country.

"These raids have really highlighted the difficulties towns face in this situation," said Ana-Maria Garcia Wahl, an associate professor of sociology at Wake Forest University who studies immigration issues in the Midwest and South. "I'm not sure all of these towns have an ability to cope and provide the crisis intervention."

Postville has lost more than a quarter of its pre-raid population of 2,300. Besides the detained workers, scores more fled or went into hiding.

People were pushed out of jobs and homes. Children were separated from parents. Businesses verged toward collapse...

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