Hundreds in Iowa arrested in immigration raid

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Federal immigration agents raided the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant Monday, arresting more than 300 people and housing many of them at a converted fairgrounds.

The raid of the Agriprocessors plant in northeastern Iowa was the largest in state history and had been planned for months, said U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth.

The raid, one of several conducted at meat-processing plants in recent years, was aimed at seeking evidence of identity theft, stolen Social Security numbers and people who are in the country illegally, immigration spokesman Tim Counts said.

Daytona Beach, Fla.

Wildfires damage homes, block roads

Dry, windy weather fueled several wildfires on Florida's central Atlantic coast Monday, damaging about 50 homes and driving hundreds of residents away as the governor declared a state of emergency.

Fires in Palm Bay in Brevard County claimed about 50 homes and 3,500 acres; students at two schools were released early as a precaution.

The Florida Highway Patrol shut down a 7-mile stretch of Interstate 95 in Brevard County around rush hour Monday. U.S. Highway 1 also was closed in that area.

Washington

Study: Immigrants assimilating faster

Immigrants of the past quarter-century have been assimilating in the United States at a notably faster rate than did previous generations, according to a study released today.

Modern-day immigrants arrive with substantially lower levels of English ability and earning power than those who entered during the last great immigration wave at the turn of the 20th century, according to the study, sponsored by the Manhattan Institute, a New York think tank.

The report found, however, that the speed with which new arrivals take on native-born traits has increased since the 1990s. As a result, even though the foreign population doubled during that period, the newcomers did not drive down the overall assimilation index of the foreign-born population.

"This is something unprecedented in U.S. history," said Jacob Vigdor, a professor at Duke University and author of the study. "It shows that the nation's capacity to assimilate new immigrants is strong."

St. Louis

Corps uncertain of levees' condition

Across America, earthen flood levees protect big cities and small towns, wealthy suburbs and rich farmland. But the Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency that oversees levees, lacks an inventory of thousands of them and has no idea of their condition, the corps' chief levee expert said.

The uncertainty, amid an unusually wet spring that has already caused significant flooding across many states, is creating worry even within the corps.

"We have to get our arms around this issue and understand how many levees there are in the country, who's watching over them, what populations and properties are behind them," said Eric Halpin, the corps' special assistant for dam and levee safety.

Robert Bea, a University of California, Berkeley, levee expert, said many levees are old, with rusting infrastructure and built to protect against relatively common floods — not the big ones like the Great Flood of 1993, when 1,100 levees were broken or had water spill over their tops.

Seattle Times news services