Last Tuesday I was able to go to a public screening of an upcoming documentary called “Abused” by Luis Argueta. The film covers the close to home Postville, Iowa incident in 2008 where 389 undocumented workers were arrested. The film covers the past two years and follows the individuals as they go through trial, imprisonment and the journey of returning to their home countries. It was an emotional showing and the film proved to be an intense viewing of these worker’s lives. Though often in Spanish, their stories told of the frustration and unfair treatment they were receiving while working as well as after the raid. It was sad to see them uprooted as many had children born in the U.S. and had acclimated to life here. In an interview of a woman sent back to Guatemala, she mentioned her daughter didn’t grow any more since there was no milk to drink there as she did in Iowa.
The film’s two year span shows the before and after effects of the raid and where the workers and Postville, Iowa are today. I appreciated the extent that the director went to to follow up with these individuals. Argueta noted that he’d been back to Iowa 30 times since the raid and that he called it his second home despite of what happened here. 
I think it’s an important film to watch that covers the issue of illegal immigration but also the families behind it. I’ll leave the link to the film’s website here: www.abusedthepostvilleraid.com
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