Renewed hope Faith Coalition helps Guatemalan detainees understand all Americans are not 'bad people'
Volunteer translators Megan Nelson and Liz Rog of Decorah have been assisting the Guatemalans staying in Decorah, detained as witnesses in the government’s labor abuse case against their former employer, Agriprocessors in Postville. From left are Nelson, Victor Sis Tepas, Rog and Juventino Lopez. They’re pictured at First Lutheran Church in Decorah which has been serving as home base for the Decorah Faith Coalition, which has supported the detainees and is organizing a walk and prayer vigil calling for the need for immigration reform. (Photo by Sarah Strandberg)
By Sarah Strandberg News Editor
NOTE: Nine Guatemalans staying in Decorah who were among former Agriprocessors workers detained as witnesses in the government's labor abuse case against the meat packing plant. They have been hosted by the Decorah Faith Coalition. Liz Rog and Megan Nelson, both of Decorah, volunteered to serve as translators during a recent interview with two of them. Prayer vigils are being held tonight, Thursday, in Postville and Sunday in Decorah to urge the new Obama administration and members of Congress to show moral courage on immigration reform.
It's impossible to listen to the stories of Juventino Lopez and Victor Sis Tepas and not realize immigration policies in this country need to change ... quickly.
It's impossible not to feel embarrassment and outrage at the way human beings have been treated at the hands of our government - one that stands up to similar injustices in other parts of the world.
It's impossible to comprehend the millions of dollars the government spent to cause the unnatural disaster that's turned the community of Postville upside down, torn apart hundreds of families and left Northeast Iowa communities to pick up the pieces.
But it's not impossible to stand up and make a difference.
And as is so often the case, the fight to right the wrongs of the May immigration raid in Postville is being waged by members of the faith community, by people who know this shouldn't be happening in America.
Sunday afternoon, local citizens who want the new Obama administration and Congress to take on immigration reform will gather at 2 p.m. for a silent walk and prayer vigil from First Lutheran Church to Decorah Lutheran Church. A 30-minute program will follow at 2:30 p.m. It's sponsored by the Decorah Faith Coalition.
"We in the faith community can no longer sit by as our broken immigration system continues to tear families apart, and while extreme rhetoric against immigrants seeps into the public dialogue," said Pastor Mike Blevins, event coordinator.
During the vigil, participants will pray for the protection of immigrants and their families, the empowerment of faith communities to work for change and the moral courage of the president and Congress to pass just and humane immigration reform.
Another prayer vigil is tonight, Thursday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. at Community Presbyterian Church in Postville.
Jailed, detained
Nearly 400 illegal workers, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, were arrested in the now infamous May 12 Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant in Postville.
After being "processed" at the Cattle Congress Grounds in Waterloo, many were charged as serious criminals for using false Social Security numbers or residency papers and most were sentenced to five months in prison after a confusing journey through the U.S. judicial system.
After serving their sentences in as many as 13 different prisons, a group of former Agriprocessors employees were detained to serve as witnesses in the government's labor abuse case against the meat-packing plant and were held for an additional month in jail.
They had served their sentences in facilities across the U.S. Each time they were moved to a new prison - usually in the middle of the night - they were forced to put on the blood-soaked clothes they were arrested in at Agriprocessors in May and shackled.
Nine of the witnesses detained are being hosted in Decorah by the Decorah Faith Coalition. They include Lopez and Tepas.
Dream was 'trashed'
The raid, said Lopez, "trashed" his dream of providing a better life for his family. The father of three came to the U.S. hoping to work two or three years to make enough money to pay for his children's education. Citizens must pay for their children to go to school in Guatemala and it's expensive. Lopez said he also dreamed of a better home -- one made out of concrete block instead of wood, and, possibly, purchasing a car.
Tepas said when you can find a job in Guatemala, it pays $4 to $7 per day. During the summer months it's difficult to find any type of employment.
In May it will be two years since Lopez has seen his wife and three children. When he learned he would be staying in the U.S. after his jail term was completed to serve as a witness, it was difficult for him to share the news with his wife.
"I told her I was going to stay here in Iowa. I didn't want to - I wanted to go home and be with my kids and wife. Even though I had debt I wanted to be with them. My wife started crying and said 'we want you to return.' "
But he tried to look at the additional months in the U.S. as a way to make up for the six months he spent in prison, unable to send a paycheck home to Guatemala. The witnesses have been granted work permits while they wait to testify.
Coyote expense
Coyotes -- human smugglers -- charge $4,000 to $7,000 to get undocumented Guatemalans into the U.S. to work. Typically, half that amount is paid up front, with the remaining debt paid off over time, according to Nelson, because the coyote always knows where the family left behind is living.
In Guatemala, the risks of going to the U.S. to work are known. But Lopez and Tepas never envisioned the Agriprocessors raid - the largest such immigration raid at the time.
"You can lose your family or you can die along the way," Lopez said of traveling to the U.S. for work.
But to provide for his children and wife, it was worth taking a risk, he said.
"If this raid hadn't happened, I'd have been able to achieve a lot for my family - help my children to study - I wasn't able to study," he said.
At Agriprocessors, Tepas, who last saw his wife and seven children in March of 2007, worked removing the veins from slaughtered cows, salting and washing meat. He worked 10 to 11 hours a day, six days a week. Lopez worked eight-hour days packing meat.
"It was difficult work, but it was worth it for my family. My goal was to come (to the U.S.) and work," Tepas said.
Unable to support his family while he was in jail, Lopez' family lost their home in Guatemala and his wife and children are staying in an extremely small house that's been loaned to them. Tepas said his wife and children had to go to work to feed themselves and pay for their schooling.
Lopez and Tepas are currently working at Hillandale Iowa in West Union, where they pack egg cartons into boxes. Rog said their supervisor wants more workers like them because of their work ethic.
Monitoring devices
According to interpreter Nelson, the labor abuse trial against Agriprocessors will start in September. Some of the former workers detained to testify may not be needed and could be sent home in a few weeks. But like Lopez, she said most have expressed a desire to stay as long as the work permit lasts.
The need to support their families is so strong that one of the Guatemalans staying in Decorah didn't attend the recent funeral of his 13-year-old son so he could continue to send money home.
"He wants to stay for financial reasons - that's why they came here in the first place," Rog said.
That situation was cited in a recent argument, which convinced a judge to allow the detainees/witnesses to remove the electronic monitoring devices on their ankles, said Nelson, who has attended some of the court proceedings in Cedar Rapids.
The attorney argued the men are not a flight risk and have already endured psychological, physical and emotional damage. Tepas said some people looked at him "strangely" when he was wearing the monitoring device and that he's thankful he no longer has to wear one.
Nelson said the judge also commended the Decorah faith community for assisting the detainees, who arrived here with nothing more than the shirts on their backs. At the last detention facility they were incarcerated in before being released - an ICE facility in Miami - Rog said their bibles, other possessions and any cash they had was taken from them.
Donations to the Faith Coalition have provided housing and living expenses, while the detainees waited the two months after their release to receive work permits. No government assistance has been provided for them, Nelson said.
"The government felt they provided them a work permit," Nelson said.
In one Sunday, when local congregations learned the Guatemalans would be arriving in Decorah, $7,000 was raised to pay for food, furnishings and clothing. The Faith Coalition also has been providing the men with a weekly stipend, and paying rent.
"People in Decorah are very kind -- I can feel this in my heart," Lopez said.
A small fraction
Being born in the U.S. is something that should be valued, Tepas said.
"I wish I had been born here. There are opportunities. On the other hand, in our country, there are not the same kind of opportunities. We can't even buy a bike - we don't have enough money. God has made this place for you. This is a flat land - it's better for agriculture. In Guatemala there are a lot of volcanoes," said Tepas, who, as a 12-year-old had to flee his home for another city after a nearby volcano erupted.
"We wish for a little fraction of what you have here - to be able to help our own people," Lopez said. "You are fortunate here. After working here a short time, you can buy a car. After working the same time (in Guatemala) you'd never be able to purchase a car. With the wages we earn there, you can't do anything more than feed your family, which is why you guys don't come to where we are from and why we come here and risk our lives."
Lopez said he wished the U.S. government could give work permits for six months to a year.
"We would work 12 to 15 hours a day because it would make a difference for our families. Because that is what we desire - is to work, work, work," he said.
A new day
Lopez's initial anger over his situation following the raid has subsided upon his arrival to Decorah. When he and the other Guatemalans were welcomed to Decorah by members of the Faith Coalition, he said they "saw a new day."
"They took away six months of my life - of course you're going to be upset by that," he said. "After the raid, I said all Americans are bad people. Now I realize God brought me here to Decorah to see that you are good people. When God allows us to return home, we will carry with us all of you. We are grateful for all you have done for us."
"Thanks be to God for the people who are helping us here. We realize not everyone wants the worst for us. People want good things for us," Tepas added. "As human beings, we're all created in the image of God. The only thing different between us is the color of our skin."
