The workers, who pack eggs into crates for shipping and who are mainly from Mexico, were rounded up at Boosma, Inc. egg facilities in Wright and Hardin counties. They were taken to Camp Dodge outside Des Moines and held for deportation. According to the Des Moines Register, the INS has "other investigations involving agricultural operations in Iowa and Nebraska."  
 
Large-scale factory farms
The area of Iowa where the raids occurred is home to a growing concentration of large egg and hog operations. According to a local resident, Lincoln Township of Wright County, which is six miles wide by six miles long, contains 6.4 million hens.

One "mega-site" has 10 hog barns and 14 chicken barns. These large producers hire immigrant workers to staff the facilities. "I'm not against Mexican immigrants," the local resident told the Militant, "but I am against the conditions they have to work under."

The raids took place in the context of rising immigration to Iowa. In addition to la migra, these workers and their families have been subjected to a reactionary backlash by forces opposed to immigrants having rights. A bill to make English the "official language" of Iowa was passed by the state senate. But following a mobilization of 250 people at the Capitol to protest the measure, the bill was changed to recognize English as the "common" language. No further action was taken by state legislators before the end of the 2001 session.

The Coalition for the Future American Worker has been running ads on Des Moines area radio stations attacking immigration to Iowa. The ads urge listeners to call the White House and demand "No more foreign workers," and say that "Iowa already has its share of foreign workers." Claiming to speak in the interests of working people, the ad points to rising unemployment figures as the reason "Iowans need jobs themselves."

Edwin Fruit is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1149 in Perry, Iowa.  
 
 
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