Events to recall 2008 raid at Iowa slaughterhouse

CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) ? Events in Cedar Rapids today will mark the five-year anniversary of a devastating immigration raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant.

Immigrants and their families, church representatives, lawyers and other advocates gathered near the federal courthouse at noon for a ritual remembering the 389 people arrested during the raid of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville on May 12, 2008.

Event organizers say they planned to walk to Immaculate Conception Church for an interfaith service in which they would pray to reconcile with the federal officials who executed the raid, and call for immigration reform to protect future workers and families.

Most of the immigrants arrested were charged with identity theft, spent five months in prison and were deported. At the time, it was the largest workplace immigration raid in history.