Confronting Borders, Creating Community: Transregional Consequences of Migration and Detention Between Guatemala and Iowa, 1980-2018

• Main Author: Swanson-Evans, RaeAnn Lillian
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarWorks@UTEP 2024
• Subjects: Border; Deportation; Detention; Guatemala; Iowa; Migration; History; Postville
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/4152; https://scholarworks.utep.edu/context/open_etd/article/5151/viewcontent/SwansonEvans_utep_0459D_14413.pdf

This dissertation explores themes of borderlands, migration, detention, and community. It uses the 2008 ICE raid on Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant, in Postville, Iowa as a case study to look at Transregional migration from Guatemala to Iowa. As migrants settled in Postville, they added to the changing demographics of Postville, and the community grappled with becoming a multicultural space. The ICE raid was a shock to the residents of Postville and the towns in Guatemala. In the aftermath of the raid, many workers faced arrest and deportation. Community solidarity emerged in both Guatemala and Iowa as a counter to state violence and intervention.