POSTVILLE -- More than 1,000 people from across the country converged on Postville to support immigration reform and decry working conditions at Agriprocessors, the town's kosher meat processing plant.

They arrived Sunday morning by the busload from Minneapolis, Chicago and New York. People of all ages, from Hispanic families to Jewish men wearing yarmulkas, marched in a crowd that stretched for blocks down the tree-lined streets of the town, population 2,200.

Speaking to the mass of people, Gideon Aronoff, president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in New York City, called the raid on Agriprocessors the legacy of failed immigration reform.

"What we need to understand is we cannot enforce our way out of this problem," he said.

Forty-three Latina women, wearing bright red shirts and electronic tracking bracelets around their ankles, led the march from St. Bridget's Catholic Church to the meat plant, where they were arrested on May 12 in the nation's largest-ever workplace immigration raid.

In most cases, the women's husbands had been arrested in the raid. Authorities released them so they could care for their children, but they cannot leave the state, cannot work, and they rely on the church to pay for food and rent. Meanwhile, they await a court date that, for most, has yet to be set.

"If we fall we shall rise again," said Luz Rodriguez, one of the mothers. "No more bracelets, no more crying mothers, no more scared children."

Speaking in front of the main entrance to Agriprocessors, Jewish leaders denounced the labor practices and safety conditions of the plant and called for it to lose its kosher certification. At the time of the raid, Agriprocessors was the largest kosher meat producer in the nation.

"We are here because we answer to a higher authority," said Harold Kravitz, a rabbi from Minneapolis.

During the raid, authorities found more than 20 underage workers, some of whom on Saturday said they worked more-than-12-hour days without overtime pay. Hilda Lopez, 16, said supervisors abused her on the job.

"They threw meat juice on us, called us names, pinched us if we got tired," she said.

The company has left a long trail of workplace safety and environmental violations over the years. A few of the more serious incidents on record include amputations and a 40,000-gallon spill of turkey blood into a nearby stream.

The grandson of plant owner Aaron Rubashkin stood at the company's gates behind the speakers and asked the public to withhold judgment until Agriprocessors receives a fair hearing in court. The company is under federal investigation, and some of its former workers have testified against the company.

"We don't accept allegations in this country as fact; we go through the courts. But we don't do that anymore -- it's a trial by media," Getzel Rubashkin said.

Matt Levitt, a Jewish man from the Minneapolis area, said he has heard all he needs to know. Agriprocessors' meat is not kosher, he said, and called the actions of the Rubashkins an affront to his religion.

"I think their actions have been such that they've brought a desecration to the name of God, and I won't sit by and watch that happen," he said.

The marchers eventually made their way to Postville's main street, lined with Jewish and Hispanic businesses as well as hardware and grocery stores. But because of the raid's devastating effects, empty store fronts are all that remain of a few businesses that catered to the town's Latino population.

With firetrucks at the ready, more than a dozen police officers and state troopers split the street in half as protesters marched shouting for immigration reform.

Across the street about 100 counter protesters struggled to be heard over hundreds of shouts of "Stop the raids!"

One of the women infuriated by the demonstration was Mona Kilborn of Marshalltown, who held a sign that read, "An illegal alien killed my mom."

Kilborn's mother died in a car accident that also seriously injured her husband. The resulting fine, $182, was an injustice, she said.

"My mother's life was worth more than $182," she said.

After the march through town, the crowd packed into the church where they heard Pedro Lopez, a young boy, cry as he talked about a letter he recently received from his mother.

"In one of her cards she said, 'You are my greatest hope and I will fight for your dreams," he said.

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