Immigration raid draws protesters

About a thousand protesters descended on the small community of Postville, decrying the raid of a meatpacking plant that led to the arrest of nearly 400 residents and calling for a change in federal immigration policies.

Postville, a town of about 2,200 in the northeastern part of the state, was pushed to the forefront of a national debate when federal immigration officials raided Agriprocessors -- the nation’s biggest kosher meatpacking plant -- in May in the largest raid of its kind in the U.S. Most of those arrested were Guatemalan and Mexican nationals.

The protesters -- many arriving by bus from the Twin Cities and Chicago -- circled Postville on a route about a mile long. Some brought banners and signs such as one that read, “United for immigrant and worker rights.”