Detention Camp being set up in Iowa? - LBN? [View All]

[DU9598]

I didn't want to post this news in the LBN catagory because I am not sure if anyone else has already posted it early this AM before I logged on.

<http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/NEWS10/805060374>

U.S. lease of Waterloo fairgrounds raises questions

Federal officials have imposed a news blackout at the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo, where they have leased almost the entire property through May 25. Tim Counts, a Midwest spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, declined to say Monday whether an immigration raid is pending that would use the fairgrounds as a detention center.

The Waterloo Courier on Sunday reported that contractors have installed generators adjacent to many buildings at the fairgrounds. In addition, windows on many buildings have been covered up, blocking views inside. A number of mobile-home-size trailers have been transported to the privately owned grounds.

Representatives of Gov. Chet Culver and U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley said they had no information about what was happening at the Cattle Congress fairgrounds. At Grassley's request, his staff called ICE officials on Monday. "During the call, the ICE officials would neither confirm nor deny anything to Senator Grassley's staff," said Beth Pellett Levine, a Grassley aide.

Armando Villareal, administrator of the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs, said he hadn't heard any reports about impending immigration raids. But he added that many Latinos in Iowa are feeling tension and fear. "Folks have resigned themselves that something terrible is going to happen between now and the election. It is more like a resignation that something is going to happen," Villareal said.