Immigration raid almost destroys Postville, Iowa
Years after immigration raid, Iowa town feels poorer and less
stable
stable
By Liz
Goodwin
Goodwin
National Affairs Reporter
POSTVILLE, Iowa—A group of Jewish boys in
yarmulkes and winter coats walked past the “Taste of Mexico” restaurant on
Lawler Street last week on their way home from school. Minutes later, a Somali
man wearing a keffiyeh scarf around his neck passed by, perhaps on his way to
the town’s makeshift mosque on Main Street.
This improbably diverse rural town of about 2,000 people in northeastern Iowa
suffered a near-fatal shock more than three years ago when a federal immigration
raid scooped up 20 percent of its population in a single day. Read more
