JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD, Courier Staff Writer

POSTVILLE - Three Hispanic congressmen vowed Saturday to bring the stories of Postville's immigration raid to Congress and continue the push for immigration reform.

During what amounted to three hours of informal testimony at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, the congressmen and many in the audience fought back tears as they listened to stories of strong-handed tactics by federal agents and prosecutors, and a litany of labor and safety violations by Agriprocessors, the town's kosher meat processing plant.

Irma Hernandez, her voice quivering, recalled how federal agents, with guns drawn, arrested her and her husband during the raid. Women fainted around her, while others screamed desperately for their children, she said.

As he listened, Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., wiped tears from his eyes.

"My husband turned his head back and forth looking for me. When I saw him, it hurt me so much," she said. "I thank God I didn't see him when they put the chains on him like a criminal."

Her eyes red after speaking, Baca stood up and embraced Hernandez.

Baca, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., visited with 43 women arrested and released with tracking ankle bracelets after a May 12 immigration raid.

The women cannot leave the state, cannot work, and more than two months after their arrests, many of them do not have court dates scheduled.

In an unprecedented move by the Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 300 of the 390 people arrested in the raid were convicted of aggravated criminal identity theft under a plea deal.

During congressional testimony on Thursday, the plea deal was criticized as so coercive that it violated the due process rights of the immigrant workers.

An aggravated identity theft charge usually requires a person to knowingly steal someone else's identity, or intent to use a person's identity for personal gain, such as to run up credit.

Gutierrez argued the immigrants, many of them illiterate, could not have been guilty of the crime.

Previously, those arrested for working in the country illegally had always been charged with a noncriminal offense and deported.

"Illegal immigration is not an aggravted felony," Gutierrez said. "What they did here in Postville is unprecedented."

The Illinois Congressmen took particular exception to the Justice Department not allowing the arrested workers immediate access to immigration attorneys. After the raid, criminal lawyers were allowed to visit with their clients, but a handful of immigration attorneys were turned away.

"The Department of Justice came to us to tell us personally this process was done in compliance with the law," Gutierrez said. "I don't believe them. They're lying to us, they're lying to you, and we need to find the truth."

Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.