Join The Potter's House for a free book talk with Klecko McGleno (pictured) about his new poetry collection, Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of an American's Clash with ICE.

As the CEO of St. Agnes Baking Co. in St. Paul, Minnesota, master bread baker Klecko led a crew of 50, most of them Mexican. In January 2018, St. Agnes was audited by ICE and 23 longtime workers were deemed non-compliant. The bakery, while having its best year ever, was scheduled to be a purveyor for Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium. Instead, after a final 90-hour production week to fill their last orders, St. Agnes Baking Co. shut down.

In the year following the closure, Klecko, a longtime poet, worked on a collection which became Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of an American’s Clash with ICE. He writes of the Mexican crew that he loved and of the plight of immigrant workers in the hospitality industry who, as Klecko says, “bust ass to give luxury to white Americans.” His poems reveal quiet compassion and heartfelt devotion for his crew, while also expressing the struggles of operating a business in a sanctuary city. At a time in the United States when the challenges facing Mexican immigrants are on the hearts and minds of many, a baker who strikes back against ICE with poetry has a compelling story to tell.