WASHINGTON, July 23 /EMWNews/ -- American citizens and

legal immigrants will be in Postville, Iowa, this Sunday, July 27, to

demonstrate their support for recent efforts to crackdown on employers who

hire illegal aliens. Postville was the site of the largest enforcement

action to date by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) at a

meat processing plant that employed hundreds of illegal aliens and was

engaging in other criminal activities, including document fraud.



    The rally, in support of ICE's stepped-up enforcement activities, will

counter demonstrations planned by supporters of illegal immigration. In

addition to Iowans, supporters of immigration enforcement will travel to

Postville from Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Jersey.



    "We will be there on Sunday to show that millions of Americans who work

hard and play by the rules applaud efforts to finally enforce our nation's

immigration laws," said Susan Tully, national field director of the

Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR is the nation's

largest immigration reform organization, with some 250,000 members

nationwide.



    "It has been the long-term failure of the government to enforce laws

against employing illegal aliens that has led to wanton disregard for our

laws. More importantly, mass illegal immigration has undermined the ability

of many American families to find jobs at wages that allow them to support

their own families, and has forced millions more Americans to subsidize

illegal workers and their employers with their tax dollars," stated Tully.

"The American public has waited far too long for ICE to finally begin

taking worksite enforcement seriously and, by our presence in Postville, we

hope to demonstrate that we want to see such efforts increased, not ended."



    Those who will be protesting against immigration enforcement complain

falsely that ICE actions, such as the one in Postville, are targeted only

at the illegal immigrants themselves, and not the unscrupulous businesses

that employ them. "Our aim is to demonstrate public support for vigorous

prosecution of employers who, in addition to violating laws against hiring

illegal aliens, engage in other sorts of reprehensible and criminal

activities," Tully noted. "Those who were here illegally need to return

home and build their own communities, and those who exploit illegal labor

and impose burdens on American taxpayers should be sent to prison."



    The demonstration in favor of ICE enforcement is scheduled to get

underway at 1 p.m. at the Postville City Hall at 145 S. Lawler Street.

Susan Tully will be in Postville on Sunday to coordinate the demonstration

in support of the ICE enforcement efforts. She will be available to speak

to the media to present the pro-enforcement viewpoint.