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Postville raid

The Postville raid was a raid at the Agriprocessors, Inc. kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, on May 12, 2008, executed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies.

Postville raid
DateMay 12, 2008 (2008-05-12)
VenueAgriprocessors, Inc. not kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant
LocationPostville, Iowa
Coordinates43°05′12″N 91°34′55″W / 43.08667°N 91.58194°W / 43.08667; -91.58194
TypeRaid
ParticipantsU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Arrests398
Convicted300
ChargesConspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, aggravated identity theft, and child labor law violations
SentenceBetween 60 days and 41 months

On that day, ICE deployed 900 agents and arrested 398 employees, 98% of whom were Latino. According to reports at the time, "agents used presumed race/ethnicity to identify suspected undocumented immigrants, allegedly handcuffing all employees assumed to be Latino until their immigration status was verified".[1] Men were detained at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, women were detained in county jails, and detainees were chained together and arraigned in groups of 10 for felony charges of aggravated identity theft, document fraud, use of stolen Social Security numbers, and related offenses.

Some 300 were convicted on the document fraud charges within four days as part of a plea bargain. In total 297 of them served a five-month prison sentence before being deported. The Supreme Court later ruled that undocumented workers cannot be charged with aggravated identity theft unless it was established that they knew that they had used an authentic Social Security number, prompting calls by some immigration attorneys and members of Congress to dismiss previous convictions against immigrants for aggravated identity theft and consider dismissing the guilty pleas sought against the Postville workers.[2]

Several employees and lower and middle level managers were convicted on charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants, aggravated identity theft, and child labor law violations, among others, serving prison sentences between 60 days and 41 months. Neither the owner, Aaron Rubashkin, nor his sons Sholom and Heshy, who were in charge of the management of Agriprocessors, were convicted of immigration or labor law violations, although both Aaron and son Sholom were initially charged with 9,311 counts of child labor law violation, for which they could have faced over 700 years in prison if found guilty.[3] All charges against Aaron were dropped right before the trial was scheduled to begin,[4] and after a five-week trial Sholom was acquitted on all charges of violating child labor laws.[5] His case was later completely expunged from Iowa state records.[6] Financial irregularities brought to light by the raid and subsequent investigations led to a conviction of the plant's chief executive Sholom on bank fraud and related charges.

He was sentenced to 27 years in prison, but this led to an outcry by a bipartisan group of more than 100 former high-ranking and distinguished Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, prosecutors, judges, and legal scholars who expressed concern with the evidentiary proceedings in his case as well as with the severity of his sentence.[7] On December 20, 2017, then-President Donald Trump commuted his sentence to time served,[8] and his trial on immigration charges was canceled.

Raid edit

With helicopters, buses and vans, hundreds of federal officials from the ICE together with agents and officers of other federal, state, and local agencies, raided the meat packing plant in the morning hours of May 12, 2008, seizing company records and arresting 389 individuals.[9] According to the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Iowa, those arrested included "290 Guatemalans, 93 Mexicans, 2 Israelis and 4 Ukrainians". Eighteen were juveniles.[10]

According to a retired federal agent, a raid on Agriprocessors expected to lead to the arrest of about 100 illegal workers mostly from Eastern Europe was planned in 2000, and canceled at the last moment over political concerns.[11]

The 2008 raid was planned for months. An affidavit the Homeland Security Department filed in court before the raid cited "...the issuance of 697 criminal complaints and arrest warrants against persons believed to be current employees," and to have acted criminally.[12] The affidavit cited unnamed sources who alleged that the company employed 15-year-old children, that supervisors helped cash checks for workers with false documents, and pressured workers without documents to purchase vehicles and register them in other names. It also cited a case in which a supervisor blindfolded a Guatemalan worker and allegedly struck him with a meat hook, causing no serious injury. Sources quoted in the affidavit and application for search warrant also alleged the existence of a methamphetamine laboratory at the slaughterhouse, and that employees carried weapons to work.[10] Later press reports do not indicate that a methamphetamine laboratory was found during the search. [citation needed]

The arrested workers were taken to a nearby fairground, the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, where they were charged with aggravated identity theft, a criminal offense that carries a mandatory two years sentence, and briefed on their rights and options. The immigrant workers, most of them without prior criminal records, were offered a plea agreement in exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges. In total, 297 accepted the agreement and pleaded guilty to document fraud. In an expedited procedure known as "fast track", hearings were scheduled over the course of the following three days, in which the judges took guilty pleas from the defendants, who were bound by handcuffs at the wrists as well as chains from their upper torso to their ankles, in groups of ten, and sentenced them immediately, five at a time.[13] Most of the workers were sentenced to five months in prison[14] and were deported afterwards. Before this raid, undocumented people who had no prior records were usually not criminally charged in the aftermath of a raid, and were instantly deported on civil immigration violations.[13] Forty-one of those arrested were allowed to remain in the US, being granted a special visa, known as a "U-visa" (see 'also' "United States visas"), for those who suffered violent abuse.[15]

The Rubashkin family, ultra-Orthodox Jews of the Lubavitcher hasidic movement, who owned and operated Agriprocessors, has denied any knowledge of criminal activity. Aaron Rubashkin, the owner of the company said that he had no idea that his workers were illegal and that they had produced what appeared to be legitimate work documents.[16] Getzel Rubashkin, one of his grandsons who worked at the plant, was reported as saying: "Obviously some of the people here were presenting false documents. Immigration authorities somehow picked it up and they did what they are supposed to do, they came and picked them up. God bless them for it."[17] According to the ICE, costs of the raid totaled $5,211,092 as of August 21, 2008, not including costs associated with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the U.S. Department of Labor or local Postville authorities.[18]

Impact edit

The raid significantly affected the Postville community. The town, with a census population of only 2,273,[19] lost a large percentage of its population due to the arrests.[20] As a result of the difficulties Agriprocessors faced after the raid, the plant stopped slaughtering cattle in October 2008, and filed for bankruptcy on November 5, 2008.[21] The City Council declared Postville a humanitarian and economic disaster area, but federal officials said the town did not qualify for help.[22] Agriprocessors was bought at auction in July 2009 and has resumed production under the new name "Agri Star" on a smaller scale.[23]

Several Agriprocessors employees and managers were indicted on charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and were convicted, whereas related charges brought against the owner, Aaron Rubashkin, and his son and CEO of the company, Sholom Rubashkin, were dismissed. However, the financial irregularities that were brought to light by the raid and subsequent investigations led to a $35 million bank fraud charge against the plant's top manager Sholom Rubashkin, who was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison.[15]

Indictments and convictions edit

Guerrero-Espinoza and De La Rosa-Loera edit

On July 3, 2008, Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, supervisor of the beef kill department and three other departments,[24] and Martin De La Rosa-Loera, supervisor of the poultry kill department and three other departments,[25] were arrested at the Agriprocessors plant.

They were charged with aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identity documents, and encouraging aliens to illegally reside in the United States. Guerrero-Espinoza was also charged with aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.[citation needed]

In late August 2008, Guerrero-Espinoza reached a deal with federal prosecutors and was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. The plea deal allowed him to avoid deportation and for his wife and children to return to the US following his prison term. The sentence included a two-year mandatory ruling for aggravated identity theft.[26] In March 2009, De La Rosa-Loera was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison.[27]

After the Flores-Figueroa v. United States ruling of the Supreme Court issued on May 4, 2009, he made a request for the reduction of his sentence.[28] Aggravated identity theft charges had formerly been dismissed against human resources employee Laura Althouse, supervisor Brent Beebe and CEO Sholom Rubashkin, the motion contended.[29] Both Guerrero-Espinoza and De La Rosa-Loera, after being released from jail, have gone back to work at the meatpacking plant under the new ownership.[30]

Aaron Rubashkin, Sholom Rubashkin, Billmeyer, Althouse, and Freund edit

In September 2008, Aaron Rubashkin, his son Sholom Rubashkin, as well as the company's human resources manager, Elizabeth Billmeyer, and two office employees, Laura Althouse and Karina Freund, were charged for child labor violations.[31] State child labor charges against Aaron Rubashkin were dropped, and he was never charged federally.[32]

In October 2008, Althouse pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and one count of aggravated identity theft. She was sentenced to two years federal probation, Freund to one year of probation.[32] Billmeyer was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release for harboring undocumented aliens and accepting counterfeit resident alien cards. After she agreed to plead guilty to state child labor charges under an agreement with the state, her sentence was reduced to eight months.[32] Former human resources assistant Penny Hanson was sentenced to two years probation on January 7, 2010. In 2010, state child law charges were dropped against former Agriprocessors supervisor Jeff Heasley, who had his case separated from the other defendants.[33]

On October 30, 2008, Sholom Rubashkin was arrested and charged with conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit, aiding and abetting document fraud, and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft. He was released on conditions that he wear a GPS ankle bracelet, limit his travel to the Northern District of Iowa, surrender his passport and his wife′s passport, and provide a $1 million appearance bond with $500,000 to be secured. On November 14, 2008, he was arrested again on a charge of a $35 million bank fraud.[34]

Beebe edit

On November 21, 2008, Sholom Rubashkin, Brent Beebe, one of two operations managers at the Agriprocessors plant, poultry managers Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi, and human resources employee Karina Freund were indicted with charges including conspiracy, harboring illegal aliens, aggravated identity theft, document fraud and bank fraud.[35] Beebe pleaded guilty in January 2010 to conspiracy to commit document fraud as part of a plea agreement with the government.[36] In the plea, Beebe admitted that he conspired with former vice president Sholom Rubashkin and others a week before the May 12, 2008 immigration raid at the plant to buy fake identification documents for 19 employees. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison on May 26, 2010. The charges against Freund were dismissed.[37]

Meltzer edit

On May 26, 2010, Mitch Meltzer, the plant′s former head accountant, was sentenced to 41 months in prison after his conviction on a federal conspiracy charge. In late September 2009, he admitted that he conspired with others to make false statements to a bank and that he signed false financial records that were used to mislead the banks. In addition to the prison term, Meltzer was ordered to pay $26.9 million in restitution.[38]

Meltzer had been hired by the meat plant′s new owner after having been dismissed by Agriprocessors′ government-appointed trustee, and remained at the company for several months after he pleaded guilty to financial fraud.[39]

Amara and Levi edit

Faced with federal charges Amara and Levi fled the USA.[40] Amara was arrested in Israel on March 31, 2011.[41] After unsuccessful appeals to avoid extradition from Israel, Amara was returned to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for trial on May 3, 2013.[42][43] He pleaded not guilty.[44] He faced 25 counts related to harboring workers who were in the country illegally and two counts related to document fraud for conspiring to provide false immigration papers. His trial was set for July 1, 2013, but delayed until August 19 by U.S. Magistrate Jon Scoles.[45] On August 29, 2013, Amara signed a plea deal, admitting that he "conspired with Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin and other executives for at least five years before the raid to harbor immigrants 'knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact' they had come to the U.S. illegally." He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines called for a shorter term. The other counts in the indictment were dismissed.[46]

Sholom Rubashkin edit

 
Sholom Rubashkin (2018)

On November 12, 2009, Sholom Rubashkin was convicted in federal court on 86 charges of financial fraud, including bank fraud, mail and wire fraud and money laundering.[47] On June 22, 2010, he was sentenced to serve 27 years in prison and to make $27 million in restitution.[15]

On November 23, 2009, Sholom Rubashkin′s second federal trial on 72 immigration charges was canceled. After winning the financial fraud conviction, federal prosecutors dismissed all immigration-related charges against him. In its motion to dismiss, the U.S. Attorneys Office said any conviction on the immigration charges would not affect his sentence, writing, "dismissal will avoid an extended and expensive trial, conserve limited resources, and lessen the inconvenience to witnesses."[48] Without that trial, it is unlikely that much of the immigration-related evidence gathered at the Agriprocessors site following the raid, or much of the key witness testimony, will ever be publicly revealed.[28]

On June 7, 2010, Sholom Rubashkin was acquitted in state court of knowingly hiring 29 underage workers at the plant.[49]

On December 20, 2017, Sholom Rubashkin's sentence was commuted by then-President Trump. Rubashkin had served 8 years of his 27 year sentence.[50]

Garcia edit

On June 30, 2010, Alvaro Julian Garcia Jr., aged 73, was sentenced to 60 days in jail followed by two years of supervised release, for having registered vehicles that were sold to undocumented workers in Postville between 2004 and 2006 as part of a vehicle title scheme.[51]

Public health outcomes edit

The post-Postville Raid environment was studied to determine whether racialized stressors may result in public health implications. A publication by Nicole L Novak, Arline T Geronimus, and Aresha M Martinez-Cardos found that infants born to Latina mothers in the state of Iowa after the raid had a 24% greater chance of low-birth weight when compared to infants born during the same period one year earlier. No such change was observed among infants born to White non-Latina mothers before and after the raid.[52]

The Raid provides a "natural experiment" in which to investigate the effects of targeted immigration enforcement on birth outcomes within a larger community. According to Novak et al, "The psychosocial, economic, communal and identity-based stressors activated by the Postville raid may have interfered with Latina mothers' neuroendocrine balance and coping resources, leaving infants vulnerable to a dysregulated endocrine environment." They conclude that the Postville raid can demonstrate the effect of psychosocial stressors on health, and that "exclusive immigration policies and their militarized enforcement exacerbate the racialized exclusion of Latinos in the USA, which may contribute to a cumulative health burden for immigrant and USA-born Latinos alike."[1]

Reactions edit

The raid has received wide national publicity. Lawmakers and labor union representatives criticized the Bush administration as disproportionately targeting workers instead of employers.[10] Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Agriprocessors′ workers and community leaders in Postville, and Congressional hearings were held before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, which split largely across party lines in its reaction to the events of the raid.[53] Jewish organizations, reacting to the raid as well as to earlier criticism of Agriprocessors′ labor practices and slaughter methods, addressed questions of Jewish ethics, stressing the importance of the commandments (Hebrew: mitzvot) concerning the relationship between human beings (Hebrew: mitzvot ben adam l'havero), alongside those between human beings and God (Hebrew: mitzvot ben adam l'makom).[54]

 
Protest rally on July 27, 2008
 
Protest rally on July 27, 2008

On the day of the raid, up to 200 protesters had gathered at National Cattle Congress in Waterloo and later held a vigil outside its gates on behalf of the detainees.[9] On July 27, 2008, a rally organized by St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville, Jewish Community Action of Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs of Chicago was held in Postville to protest working conditions in the plant, and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants.[55] About 1,000 people, including Catholic clergy members, rabbis and Jewish activists, and Hispanic immigrants held an interfaith service at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, and marched through the center of town to the entrance of the meatpacking plant.[17]

The first anniversary of the raid was marked by a prayer vigil followed by a procession to the National Cattle Congress grounds on May 11, 2009 in Waterloo,[56] on May 12, a prayer service and vigil at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, followed by a procession to Agriprocessors, took place in Postville.[57] Both events were attended by representatives of Christian and Jewish faiths, who demonstrated their solidarity and spoke out for immigration reform. Prayer vigils were also held on the second anniversary of the raid in Waterloo and Postville.[58]

In "response to the humanitarian and economic disaster" created by the raid, the "Postville Response Coalition", composed of community organizations, the faith community, and city and county government officials, was founded in November 2008 to help individuals and families.[59] It was dissolved on March 31, 2010, after the meatpacking plant had reopened under new ownership and the community began to recover from the raid and the subsequent closure of the plant.[60] A new organization called "Postville First" was created through the impetus of the "Postville Response Coalition".[61]

Reactions of political figures edit

Zoe Lofgren, Democratic member of the House of Representatives who chairs the House Judiciary Committee′s immigration panel, criticized the raid for the treatment of the workers during the raid itself, for subsequent "coercion" of guilty pleas, and for targeting workers rather than employers.[62] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has criticized the three-day series of court hearings in the aftermath of the raid, and has published a copy of a "script" that attorneys were given to use in discussing possible plea agreements with their clients.[13] Officials from the office of United States Attorney Matt Dummermuth, whose staff assisted in the preparation of the documents used in the hearings, have defended the proceedings. Bob Teig, a spokesman for Dummermuth's office, noted that the scripts were used only to ensure that the individuals being charged with crimes "...were fully advised of their rights and fully understood the consequences of their decisions to plead guilty."[13]

Also, the raid and prosecutions took place while investigations of the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor (DOL) for possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act against Agriprocessors were underway. Concern was voiced, that the ICE raid may have affected the ability of the Department of Labor to conduct its investigation of the workplace, and that workers able to assist in the investigation or victims of possible violations may have been among those arrested. According to Democratic Representative from Iowa Bruce Braley, ICE claimed to have "fully coordinated its activities with other Federal agencies, including the Department of Labor prior to the May 12 operation at the Agriprocessors facility", whereas the Department of Labor stated in a letter of July 3, that, "'the raid occurred without the prior knowledge or participation of the Wage and Hour Division' and that, 'no advance notice was given to WHD or any other Department of Labor agency prior to the raid'. In addition, the DOL letter states that the May 12 enforcement action 'changes the complexion of WHD's investigation of Agriprocessors.'"[63]

Iowa Governor Chet Culver criticised Agriprocessors in a guest editorial on August 24, 2008, comparing it to Upton Sinclair′s 1906 novel The Jungle: "Alarming information about working conditions at the Postville plant ... brought to national attention by the raid forces me to believe that, in contrast to our state's overall economic-development strategy, this company's owners have deliberately chosen to take the low road in its business practices."[64] One day later, then presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke out against Agriprocessors' managers, without mentioning Agriprocessors by name, while campaigning in Iowa.[65] During Obama's first year as president, raids on workplaces declined, but deportations of illegal immigrants increased by nearly 10 percent from the last year of the Bush presidency.[66]

Reactions of Jewish organizations edit

Several Jewish organizations had voiced concern about Agriprocessors′ meat products meeting ethical standards of kashrut ever since the first criticisms of its slaughtering methods and working conditions were made public, the former by the animal rights organization PETA,[67] brought to the attention of the general public by the New York Times, in November 2004,[68] and the latter by the Jewish newspaper The Forward in 2006.[69] As a result of it, an ethical certification for kosher products, Heksher Tzedek (English: ethical certification), introduced by Rabbi Morris Allen, was endorsed in 2007 by the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis.[70]

After the raid, Modern Orthodox rabbis met in Los Angeles on May 18, 2008 to discuss creating a heksher (English: kosher certification) for ethical issues.[71] The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly on May 22, 2008 issued a statement, requesting "that consumers of kosher meat evaluate whether it is appropriate to buy and eat meat products produced by the Rubashkin's label", adding that "the allegations about the terrible treatment of workers employed by Rubashkin's have shocked and appalled members of the Conservative movement as well as all people of conscience. As kashrut seeks to diminish animal suffering and offer a humane method of slaughter, it is bitterly ironic that a plant producing kosher meat be guilty of inflicting any kind of human suffering."[72] On May 23, 2008, the Jewish Labor Committee went further and "urged consumers of kosher meat products to seek alternatives to the Rubashkin labels" until Agriprocessors lives up "to the responsibilities of corporate citizenship, ends its campaign of worker abuse, and respects the rights of its employees including their legal right to union representation."[73] The liberal orthodox Jewish organisation Uri L'Tzedek, (English: awaken to justice), founded in 2007, called for a boycott of Agriprocessors′ products,[74] which it lifted six weeks later, after Agriprocessors had appointed a former U.S. attorney as compliance officer and had promised changes in their treatment of workers,[75] even though the management had not been replaced, contrary to the announcement made by the plant's owner immediately after the raid.[16] In September 2008, when the first criminal charges had been brought against Agriprocessors′ owner and managers, the Orthodox Union, the leading kosher certifier in the United States, threatened to withdraw its certification from the products of Agriprocessors, unless the company put a new management in place.[76]

Ultra-Orthodox organizations did not take part in the discussion over ethical issues raised by the raid. After Sholom Rubashkin's arrest, Orthodox rabbis showed their solidarity, but, according to the Forward, "most of the [ultra-]Orthodox rabbis who are supporting Rubashkin ... had never considered providing support to the immigrant workers. But Rabbi Shea Hecht, a Chabad rabbi ... said he wished he had done more in the raid′s immediate aftermath."[77]

Student leaders Gilah Kletenik and Simcha Gross organized a panel at Yeshiva University in response to this raid. The discussion engaged questions about ethics, the laws of kashrut and communal responsibility.[78]

In film edit

The consequences of the raid for undocumented workers and their families, many of whom were from Guatemala and Mexico, were documented in AbUSed: the Postville Raid,[79] a 2011 documentary film by Guatemalan film director Luis Argueta.

References edit

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  51. ^ Jeff Reinitz (2010-07-01). "Man sentenced in vehicle title scheme". Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
  52. ^ Ornelas, India J.; Yamanis, Thespina J.; Ruiz, Raymond A. (2020). "The Health of Undocumented Latinx Immigrants: What We Know and Future Directions". Annual Review of Public Health. 41: 289–308. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094211. PMC 9246400. PMID 32237989.
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  56. ^ Amie Steffen (2009-05-12). "Faith leaders unite to support immigration reform". Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  57. ^ Lynda Waddington (2009-05-13). "Postville anniversary rally smaller but mor focused". The Iowa Independent. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  58. ^ "Vigil marks second anniversary of raid". Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. 2010-05-13. "Postville two years later". KWWL.com. 2010-05-13. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  59. ^ "The Newsletter of the Postville Response Coalition, Issue 1". Postville Response Coalition. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  60. ^ Orlan Love (2010-05-12). "Two years after Agriprocessors raid, Postville is flush with new optimism". GazetteOnline.com. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
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Further reading edit

  • Mark A. Grey, Michele Devlin and Aaron Goldsmith: Postville, U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America. Gemma Media, Boston 2009 ISBN 978-1-934848-64-7

External links edit

  • Website of the documentary abUSed - The Postville Raid (in English and Spanish).
  • Facebook Page of The Documentary abUSed The Postville Raid
  • Twitter Account of The Documentary abUSed The Postville Raid
  • Immigration Raids: Postville and beyond. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives one hundred tenth Congress second Session, July 24, 2008 Serial No. 110–198
  • The Postville Project Luther College and University of Northern Iowa
  • Obama criticizes Agriprocessors | News | wcfcourier.com [1]
  • Cornelia Butler Flora, Jan L. Flora (2009). (PDF). Iowa State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16.
  • Erik Camayd-Freixas (2008-06-13). "Interpreting after the Largest ICE Raid in US History: A Personal Account" (PDF).
  • Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, ed. (2010). "Perfidy in Iowa. The Saga of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin as reported in the pages of Yated Ne′eman" (PDF). Yated Ne′eman, Monsey, NY.
  • Allison L. McCarthy (2010). (PDF). University of Iowa College of Law. Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, Vol. 19:293. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2010.

postville, raid, raid, agriprocessors, kosher, slaughterhouse, meat, packing, plant, postville, iowa, 2008, executed, immigration, customs, enforcement, division, department, homeland, security, together, with, other, agencies, datemay, 2008, 2008, venueagripr. The Postville raid was a raid at the Agriprocessors Inc kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in Postville Iowa on May 12 2008 executed by the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE division of the Department of Homeland Security together with other agencies Postville raidDateMay 12 2008 2008 05 12 VenueAgriprocessors Inc not kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plantLocationPostville IowaCoordinates43 05 12 N 91 34 55 W 43 08667 N 91 58194 W 43 08667 91 58194TypeRaidParticipantsU S Immigration and Customs EnforcementArrests398Convicted300ChargesConspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants aggravated identity theft and child labor law violationsSentenceBetween 60 days and 41 months On that day ICE deployed 900 agents and arrested 398 employees 98 of whom were Latino According to reports at the time agents used presumed race ethnicity to identify suspected undocumented immigrants allegedly handcuffing all employees assumed to be Latino until their immigration status was verified 1 Men were detained at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo Iowa women were detained in county jails and detainees were chained together and arraigned in groups of 10 for felony charges of aggravated identity theft document fraud use of stolen Social Security numbers and related offenses Some 300 were convicted on the document fraud charges within four days as part of a plea bargain In total 297 of them served a five month prison sentence before being deported The Supreme Court later ruled that undocumented workers cannot be charged with aggravated identity theft unless it was established that they knew that they had used an authentic Social Security number prompting calls by some immigration attorneys and members of Congress to dismiss previous convictions against immigrants for aggravated identity theft and consider dismissing the guilty pleas sought against the Postville workers 2 Several employees and lower and middle level managers were convicted on charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants aggravated identity theft and child labor law violations among others serving prison sentences between 60 days and 41 months Neither the owner Aaron Rubashkin nor his sons Sholom and Heshy who were in charge of the management of Agriprocessors were convicted of immigration or labor law violations although both Aaron and son Sholom were initially charged with 9 311 counts of child labor law violation for which they could have faced over 700 years in prison if found guilty 3 All charges against Aaron were dropped right before the trial was scheduled to begin 4 and after a five week trial Sholom was acquitted on all charges of violating child labor laws 5 His case was later completely expunged from Iowa state records 6 Financial irregularities brought to light by the raid and subsequent investigations led to a conviction of the plant s chief executive Sholom on bank fraud and related charges He was sentenced to 27 years in prison but this led to an outcry by a bipartisan group of more than 100 former high ranking and distinguished Department of Justice DOJ officials prosecutors judges and legal scholars who expressed concern with the evidentiary proceedings in his case as well as with the severity of his sentence 7 On December 20 2017 then President Donald Trump commuted his sentence to time served 8 and his trial on immigration charges was canceled Contents 1 Raid 2 Impact 2 1 Indictments and convictions 2 1 1 Guerrero Espinoza and De La Rosa Loera 2 1 2 Aaron Rubashkin Sholom Rubashkin Billmeyer Althouse and Freund 2 1 3 Beebe 2 1 4 Meltzer 2 1 5 Amara and Levi 2 1 6 Sholom Rubashkin 2 1 7 Garcia 2 2 Public health outcomes 2 3 Reactions 2 3 1 Reactions of political figures 2 3 2 Reactions of Jewish organizations 3 In film 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksRaid editWith helicopters buses and vans hundreds of federal officials from the ICE together with agents and officers of other federal state and local agencies raided the meat packing plant in the morning hours of May 12 2008 seizing company records and arresting 389 individuals 9 According to the U S attorney s office for the Northern District of Iowa those arrested included 290 Guatemalans 93 Mexicans 2 Israelis and 4 Ukrainians Eighteen were juveniles 10 According to a retired federal agent a raid on Agriprocessors expected to lead to the arrest of about 100 illegal workers mostly from Eastern Europe was planned in 2000 and canceled at the last moment over political concerns 11 The 2008 raid was planned for months An affidavit the Homeland Security Department filed in court before the raid cited the issuance of 697 criminal complaints and arrest warrants against persons believed to be current employees and to have acted criminally 12 The affidavit cited unnamed sources who alleged that the company employed 15 year old children that supervisors helped cash checks for workers with false documents and pressured workers without documents to purchase vehicles and register them in other names It also cited a case in which a supervisor blindfolded a Guatemalan worker and allegedly struck him with a meat hook causing no serious injury Sources quoted in the affidavit and application for search warrant also alleged the existence of a methamphetamine laboratory at the slaughterhouse and that employees carried weapons to work 10 Later press reports do not indicate that a methamphetamine laboratory was found during the search citation needed The arrested workers were taken to a nearby fairground the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo Iowa where they were charged with aggravated identity theft a criminal offense that carries a mandatory two years sentence and briefed on their rights and options The immigrant workers most of them without prior criminal records were offered a plea agreement in exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges In total 297 accepted the agreement and pleaded guilty to document fraud In an expedited procedure known as fast track hearings were scheduled over the course of the following three days in which the judges took guilty pleas from the defendants who were bound by handcuffs at the wrists as well as chains from their upper torso to their ankles in groups of ten and sentenced them immediately five at a time 13 Most of the workers were sentenced to five months in prison 14 and were deported afterwards Before this raid undocumented people who had no prior records were usually not criminally charged in the aftermath of a raid and were instantly deported on civil immigration violations 13 Forty one of those arrested were allowed to remain in the US being granted a special visa known as a U visa see also United States visas for those who suffered violent abuse 15 The Rubashkin family ultra Orthodox Jews of the Lubavitcher hasidic movement who owned and operated Agriprocessors has denied any knowledge of criminal activity Aaron Rubashkin the owner of the company said that he had no idea that his workers were illegal and that they had produced what appeared to be legitimate work documents 16 Getzel Rubashkin one of his grandsons who worked at the plant was reported as saying Obviously some of the people here were presenting false documents Immigration authorities somehow picked it up and they did what they are supposed to do they came and picked them up God bless them for it 17 According to the ICE costs of the raid totaled 5 211 092 as of August 21 2008 not including costs associated with the U S Attorney s Office the U S Department of Labor or local Postville authorities 18 Impact editThe raid significantly affected the Postville community The town with a census population of only 2 273 19 lost a large percentage of its population due to the arrests 20 As a result of the difficulties Agriprocessors faced after the raid the plant stopped slaughtering cattle in October 2008 and filed for bankruptcy on November 5 2008 21 The City Council declared Postville a humanitarian and economic disaster area but federal officials said the town did not qualify for help 22 Agriprocessors was bought at auction in July 2009 and has resumed production under the new name Agri Star on a smaller scale 23 Several Agriprocessors employees and managers were indicted on charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and were convicted whereas related charges brought against the owner Aaron Rubashkin and his son and CEO of the company Sholom Rubashkin were dismissed However the financial irregularities that were brought to light by the raid and subsequent investigations led to a 35 million bank fraud charge against the plant s top manager Sholom Rubashkin who was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison 15 Indictments and convictions edit Guerrero Espinoza and De La Rosa Loera edit On July 3 2008 Juan Carlos Guerrero Espinoza supervisor of the beef kill department and three other departments 24 and Martin De La Rosa Loera supervisor of the poultry kill department and three other departments 25 were arrested at the Agriprocessors plant They were charged with aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identity documents and encouraging aliens to illegally reside in the United States Guerrero Espinoza was also charged with aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft citation needed In late August 2008 Guerrero Espinoza reached a deal with federal prosecutors and was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison The plea deal allowed him to avoid deportation and for his wife and children to return to the US following his prison term The sentence included a two year mandatory ruling for aggravated identity theft 26 In March 2009 De La Rosa Loera was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison 27 After the Flores Figueroa v United States ruling of the Supreme Court issued on May 4 2009 he made a request for the reduction of his sentence 28 Aggravated identity theft charges had formerly been dismissed against human resources employee Laura Althouse supervisor Brent Beebe and CEO Sholom Rubashkin the motion contended 29 Both Guerrero Espinoza and De La Rosa Loera after being released from jail have gone back to work at the meatpacking plant under the new ownership 30 Aaron Rubashkin Sholom Rubashkin Billmeyer Althouse and Freund edit In September 2008 Aaron Rubashkin his son Sholom Rubashkin as well as the company s human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer and two office employees Laura Althouse and Karina Freund were charged for child labor violations 31 State child labor charges against Aaron Rubashkin were dropped and he was never charged federally 32 In October 2008 Althouse pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and one count of aggravated identity theft She was sentenced to two years federal probation Freund to one year of probation 32 Billmeyer was sentenced to one year and one day in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release for harboring undocumented aliens and accepting counterfeit resident alien cards After she agreed to plead guilty to state child labor charges under an agreement with the state her sentence was reduced to eight months 32 Former human resources assistant Penny Hanson was sentenced to two years probation on January 7 2010 In 2010 state child law charges were dropped against former Agriprocessors supervisor Jeff Heasley who had his case separated from the other defendants 33 On October 30 2008 Sholom Rubashkin was arrested and charged with conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft He was released on conditions that he wear a GPS ankle bracelet limit his travel to the Northern District of Iowa surrender his passport and his wife s passport and provide a 1 million appearance bond with 500 000 to be secured On November 14 2008 he was arrested again on a charge of a 35 million bank fraud 34 Beebe edit On November 21 2008 Sholom Rubashkin Brent Beebe one of two operations managers at the Agriprocessors plant poultry managers Hosam Amara and Zeev Levi and human resources employee Karina Freund were indicted with charges including conspiracy harboring illegal aliens aggravated identity theft document fraud and bank fraud 35 Beebe pleaded guilty in January 2010 to conspiracy to commit document fraud as part of a plea agreement with the government 36 In the plea Beebe admitted that he conspired with former vice president Sholom Rubashkin and others a week before the May 12 2008 immigration raid at the plant to buy fake identification documents for 19 employees He was sentenced to 10 months in prison on May 26 2010 The charges against Freund were dismissed 37 Meltzer edit On May 26 2010 Mitch Meltzer the plant s former head accountant was sentenced to 41 months in prison after his conviction on a federal conspiracy charge In late September 2009 he admitted that he conspired with others to make false statements to a bank and that he signed false financial records that were used to mislead the banks In addition to the prison term Meltzer was ordered to pay 26 9 million in restitution 38 Meltzer had been hired by the meat plant s new owner after having been dismissed by Agriprocessors government appointed trustee and remained at the company for several months after he pleaded guilty to financial fraud 39 Amara and Levi edit Faced with federal charges Amara and Levi fled the USA 40 Amara was arrested in Israel on March 31 2011 41 After unsuccessful appeals to avoid extradition from Israel Amara was returned to Cedar Rapids Iowa for trial on May 3 2013 42 43 He pleaded not guilty 44 He faced 25 counts related to harboring workers who were in the country illegally and two counts related to document fraud for conspiring to provide false immigration papers His trial was set for July 1 2013 but delayed until August 19 by U S Magistrate Jon Scoles 45 On August 29 2013 Amara signed a plea deal admitting that he conspired with Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin and other executives for at least five years before the raid to harbor immigrants knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact they had come to the U S illegally He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison though federal sentencing guidelines called for a shorter term The other counts in the indictment were dismissed 46 Sholom Rubashkin edit nbsp Sholom Rubashkin 2018 On November 12 2009 Sholom Rubashkin was convicted in federal court on 86 charges of financial fraud including bank fraud mail and wire fraud and money laundering 47 On June 22 2010 he was sentenced to serve 27 years in prison and to make 27 million in restitution 15 On November 23 2009 Sholom Rubashkin s second federal trial on 72 immigration charges was canceled After winning the financial fraud conviction federal prosecutors dismissed all immigration related charges against him In its motion to dismiss the U S Attorneys Office said any conviction on the immigration charges would not affect his sentence writing dismissal will avoid an extended and expensive trial conserve limited resources and lessen the inconvenience to witnesses 48 Without that trial it is unlikely that much of the immigration related evidence gathered at the Agriprocessors site following the raid or much of the key witness testimony will ever be publicly revealed 28 On June 7 2010 Sholom Rubashkin was acquitted in state court of knowingly hiring 29 underage workers at the plant 49 On December 20 2017 Sholom Rubashkin s sentence was commuted by then President Trump Rubashkin had served 8 years of his 27 year sentence 50 Garcia edit On June 30 2010 Alvaro Julian Garcia Jr aged 73 was sentenced to 60 days in jail followed by two years of supervised release for having registered vehicles that were sold to undocumented workers in Postville between 2004 and 2006 as part of a vehicle title scheme 51 Public health outcomes edit The post Postville Raid environment was studied to determine whether racialized stressors may result in public health implications A publication by Nicole L Novak Arline T Geronimus and Aresha M Martinez Cardos found that infants born to Latina mothers in the state of Iowa after the raid had a 24 greater chance of low birth weight when compared to infants born during the same period one year earlier No such change was observed among infants born to White non Latina mothers before and after the raid 52 The Raid provides a natural experiment in which to investigate the effects of targeted immigration enforcement on birth outcomes within a larger community According to Novak et al The psychosocial economic communal and identity based stressors activated by the Postville raid may have interfered with Latina mothers neuroendocrine balance and coping resources leaving infants vulnerable to a dysregulated endocrine environment They conclude that the Postville raid can demonstrate the effect of psychosocial stressors on health and that exclusive immigration policies and their militarized enforcement exacerbate the racialized exclusion of Latinos in the USA which may contribute to a cumulative health burden for immigrant and USA born Latinos alike 1 Reactions edit The raid has received wide national publicity Lawmakers and labor union representatives criticized the Bush administration as disproportionately targeting workers instead of employers 10 Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with Agriprocessors workers and community leaders in Postville and Congressional hearings were held before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee which split largely across party lines in its reaction to the events of the raid 53 Jewish organizations reacting to the raid as well as to earlier criticism of Agriprocessors labor practices and slaughter methods addressed questions of Jewish ethics stressing the importance of the commandments Hebrew mitzvot concerning the relationship between human beings Hebrew mitzvot ben adam l havero alongside those between human beings and God Hebrew mitzvot ben adam l makom 54 nbsp Protest rally on July 27 2008 nbsp Protest rally on July 27 2008 On the day of the raid up to 200 protesters had gathered at National Cattle Congress in Waterloo and later held a vigil outside its gates on behalf of the detainees 9 On July 27 2008 a rally organized by St Bridget s Catholic Church in Postville Jewish Community Action of Saint Paul Minnesota and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs of Chicago was held in Postville to protest working conditions in the plant and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants 55 About 1 000 people including Catholic clergy members rabbis and Jewish activists and Hispanic immigrants held an interfaith service at St Bridget s Catholic Church and marched through the center of town to the entrance of the meatpacking plant 17 The first anniversary of the raid was marked by a prayer vigil followed by a procession to the National Cattle Congress grounds on May 11 2009 in Waterloo 56 on May 12 a prayer service and vigil at St Bridget s Catholic Church followed by a procession to Agriprocessors took place in Postville 57 Both events were attended by representatives of Christian and Jewish faiths who demonstrated their solidarity and spoke out for immigration reform Prayer vigils were also held on the second anniversary of the raid in Waterloo and Postville 58 In response to the humanitarian and economic disaster created by the raid the Postville Response Coalition composed of community organizations the faith community and city and county government officials was founded in November 2008 to help individuals and families 59 It was dissolved on March 31 2010 after the meatpacking plant had reopened under new ownership and the community began to recover from the raid and the subsequent closure of the plant 60 A new organization called Postville First was created through the impetus of the Postville Response Coalition 61 Reactions of political figures edit Zoe Lofgren Democratic member of the House of Representatives who chairs the House Judiciary Committee s immigration panel criticized the raid for the treatment of the workers during the raid itself for subsequent coercion of guilty pleas and for targeting workers rather than employers 62 The American Civil Liberties Union ACLU has criticized the three day series of court hearings in the aftermath of the raid and has published a copy of a script that attorneys were given to use in discussing possible plea agreements with their clients 13 Officials from the office of United States Attorney Matt Dummermuth whose staff assisted in the preparation of the documents used in the hearings have defended the proceedings Bob Teig a spokesman for Dummermuth s office noted that the scripts were used only to ensure that the individuals being charged with crimes were fully advised of their rights and fully understood the consequences of their decisions to plead guilty 13 Also the raid and prosecutions took place while investigations of the Wage and Hour Division WHD of the Department of Labor DOL for possible violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act against Agriprocessors were underway Concern was voiced that the ICE raid may have affected the ability of the Department of Labor to conduct its investigation of the workplace and that workers able to assist in the investigation or victims of possible violations may have been among those arrested According to Democratic Representative from Iowa Bruce Braley ICE claimed to have fully coordinated its activities with other Federal agencies including the Department of Labor prior to the May 12 operation at the Agriprocessors facility whereas the Department of Labor stated in a letter of July 3 that the raid occurred without the prior knowledge or participation of the Wage and Hour Division and that no advance notice was given to WHD or any other Department of Labor agency prior to the raid In addition the DOL letter states that the May 12 enforcement action changes the complexion of WHD s investigation of Agriprocessors 63 Iowa Governor Chet Culver criticised Agriprocessors in a guest editorial on August 24 2008 comparing it to Upton Sinclair s 1906 novel The Jungle Alarming information about working conditions at the Postville plant brought to national attention by the raid forces me to believe that in contrast to our state s overall economic development strategy this company s owners have deliberately chosen to take the low road in its business practices 64 One day later then presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke out against Agriprocessors managers without mentioning Agriprocessors by name while campaigning in Iowa 65 During Obama s first year as president raids on workplaces declined but deportations of illegal immigrants increased by nearly 10 percent from the last year of the Bush presidency 66 Reactions of Jewish organizations edit Several Jewish organizations had voiced concern about Agriprocessors meat products meeting ethical standards of kashrut ever since the first criticisms of its slaughtering methods and working conditions were made public the former by the animal rights organization PETA 67 brought to the attention of the general public by the New York Times in November 2004 68 and the latter by the Jewish newspaper The Forward in 2006 69 As a result of it an ethical certification for kosher products Heksher Tzedek English ethical certification introduced by Rabbi Morris Allen was endorsed in 2007 by the Rabbinical Assembly the international association of Conservative rabbis 70 After the raid Modern Orthodox rabbis met in Los Angeles on May 18 2008 to discuss creating a heksher English kosher certification for ethical issues 71 The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly on May 22 2008 issued a statement requesting that consumers of kosher meat evaluate whether it is appropriate to buy and eat meat products produced by the Rubashkin s label adding that the allegations about the terrible treatment of workers employed by Rubashkin s have shocked and appalled members of the Conservative movement as well as all people of conscience As kashrut seeks to diminish animal suffering and offer a humane method of slaughter it is bitterly ironic that a plant producing kosher meat be guilty of inflicting any kind of human suffering 72 On May 23 2008 the Jewish Labor Committee went further and urged consumers of kosher meat products to seek alternatives to the Rubashkin labels until Agriprocessors lives up to the responsibilities of corporate citizenship ends its campaign of worker abuse and respects the rights of its employees including their legal right to union representation 73 The liberal orthodox Jewish organisation Uri L Tzedek English awaken to justice founded in 2007 called for a boycott of Agriprocessors products 74 which it lifted six weeks later after Agriprocessors had appointed a former U S attorney as compliance officer and had promised changes in their treatment of workers 75 even though the management had not been replaced contrary to the announcement made by the plant s owner immediately after the raid 16 In September 2008 when the first criminal charges had been brought against Agriprocessors owner and managers the Orthodox Union the leading kosher certifier in the United States threatened to withdraw its certification from the products of Agriprocessors unless the company put a new management in place 76 Ultra Orthodox organizations did not take part in the discussion over ethical issues raised by the raid After Sholom Rubashkin s arrest Orthodox rabbis showed their solidarity but according to the Forward most of the ultra Orthodox rabbis who are supporting Rubashkin had never considered providing support to the immigrant workers But Rabbi Shea Hecht a Chabad rabbi said he wished he had done more in the raid s immediate aftermath 77 Student leaders Gilah Kletenik and Simcha Gross organized a panel at Yeshiva University in response to this raid The discussion engaged questions about ethics the laws of kashrut and communal responsibility 78 In film editThe consequences of the raid for undocumented workers and their families many of whom were from Guatemala and Mexico were documented in AbUSed the Postville Raid 79 a 2011 documentary film by Guatemalan film director Luis Argueta References edit a b Novak Nicole L Geronimus Arline T Martinez Cardoso Aresha M 2016 Change in birth outcomes among infants born to Latina mothers after a major immigration raid International Journal of Epidemiology 46 3 839 849 doi 10 1093 ije dyw346 ISSN 0300 5771 PMC 5837605 PMID 28115577 Chishti Muzaffar Bergeron Claire May 15 2009 Supreme Court Rules against Charging Unauthorized Immigrants with Aggravated Identity Theft Migration Information Source Retrieved 2009 05 15 Child Labor Charges For Iowa Meat Plant CBS News September 9 2008 Retrieved 2008 09 08 Some Charges Dropped in Iowa Slaughterhouse Case NY Times May 5 2010 Retrieved 2010 05 10 Preston Julia June 7 2010 Former Manager of Iowa Slaughterhouse Is Acquitted of Labor Charges The NY Times Retrieved 2010 06 07 Postvilles Rubashkin Has Criminal Case Expunged The Gazette February 28 2016 Retrieved 2016 02 28 Renfrew Charles B Reynolds James H May 18 2016 Prosecutors judges decry Rubashkin witch hunt Des Moines Register Retrieved 2016 05 18 President Trump Commutes Sentence of Sholom Rubashkin The White House trumpwhitehouse archives gov Retrieved 2023 04 08 a b Nigel Duara William Petroski and Grant Schulte 2008 05 12 Claims of ID fraud lead to largest raid in state history The Des Moines Register Retrieved 2010 08 04 a b c Spencer S Hsu 2008 05 18 Immigration Raid Jars a Small Town The Washington Post Retrieved 2010 05 22 Tony Leys 7 August 2011 Agriprocessors Immigrant raid halted in 2000 on election fear ex agent says Des Moines Register Retrieved October 14 2011 Susan Saulny 2008 05 13 Hundreds Are Arrested in US Sweep of Meat Plant The New York Times Retrieved 2010 07 26 a b c d Julia Preston 2008 08 04 Immigrants Speedy Trials After Raid Become Issue The New York Times Lynda Waddington 2008 05 14 Postville Raid A Look Inside the Temporary Courtroom The Iowa Independent Retrieved 2010 07 29 297 convicted and sentenced following ICE worksite operation in Iowa Immigration amp Customs Enforcement 2008 05 15 Archived from the original on 20 August 2008 Retrieved 2008 08 19 a b c Julia Preston 2010 06 21 27 year sentence for plant manager The New York Times Retrieved 2010 07 21 a b Ben Harris 2008 06 04 It s all a lie JewishJournal com Retrieved 2010 07 26 a b Julia Preston 2008 07 28 Iowa Rally Protests Raid and Conditions at Plant The New York Times Retrieved 2010 07 21 William Petroski The Des Moines Register 2008 10 14 Taxpayers Costs Top 5 million for May Raid at Postville Midwest Coalition for Human Rights Retrieved 2010 07 28 U S Census website United States Census Bureau Retrieved 2008 01 31 Town of 2 273 wonders What happens to us now The Des Moines Register 2008 05 14 Archived from the original on 2012 07 03 Retrieved 2008 08 19 Julia Preston 2008 11 05 Large Iowa Meatpacker in Illegal Immigrant Raid Files for Bankruptcy The New York Times Retrieved 2010 07 26 Nigel Duara AP Writer 2009 04 30 Postville still reeling Marshalltown moves on after immigration raids Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 07 28 Rebecca Dube 2009 07 22 New Owner of Agriprocessors Faces Old Questions About Its Plans For Company The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved 2010 07 26 USA vs Juan Carlos Guerrero Espinoza PDF U S District Court Northern District of Iowa 2008 07 02 Retrieved 2010 07 27 USA vs Martin De La Rosa Loera PDF U S District Court Northern District of Iowa 2008 07 02 Retrieved 2010 07 27 Ex supervisor sentenced after huge immigration raid 6abc 21 August 2008 Retrieved 9 March 2021 Agriprocessors supervisor sentenced to 23 months in prison U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE 2009 03 04 Archived from the original on 6 May 2009 Retrieved 2010 07 23 a b Lynda Waddington 2009 12 16 Convicted Agriprocessors supervisor requests revisit of sentence The Iowa Independent Retrieved 2010 07 26 Admin 2009 12 15 Agriprocessors supervisor asks court to correct his sentence GazetteOnline com Retrieved 2010 07 26 Tony Leys The Des Moines Register 2010 04 14 Convicted Agriprocessors Managers Out Of Jail And Back At Work At Agri Star Owner Postville meat plant to flourish FailedMessiah com Retrieved 2010 07 26 Julia Preston 2008 09 10 Meatpacker Faces Charges of Violating Child Laws The New York Times Retrieved 2010 07 23 a b c Jeff Reinitz 2010 06 09 Moral stakes in Rubashkin child labor case were high both sides say Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 07 26 Iowa Courts Online Docket Records U S Attorney Matt M Dummermuth 2008 11 14 Former Agriprocessors CEO Rubashkin arrested again ICE Northern District of Iowa Retrieved 2010 07 23 U S Attorney Matt M Dummermuth 2008 11 21 Agriprocessors and management criminally indicted Charges include conspiracy harboring illegal aliens aggravated identity theft document fraud and bank fraud ICE Northern District of Iowa Retrieved 2010 10 12 Agriprocessors manager pleads guilty to document fraud conspiracy U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE 2010 01 11 Archived from the original on 2 June 2010 Retrieved 2010 07 23 Admin 2010 05 26 Former Agriprocessors manager to serve 10 months in prison GazetteOnline com Retrieved 2010 07 23 USA Stiff penalties for Kosher plant executives Meat Trade News Daily 2010 06 03 Retrieved 2010 07 27 Jens Manuel Krogstad 2009 11 17 Agri Star accountant worked at company after felony guilty plea Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 08 02 AP 2010 03 16 2 Agriprocessors suspects still at large Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 07 26 Tony Leys September 14 2011 Postville meat plant official s extradition weighed DesMoines Register Retrieved October 14 2011 Jeff Reinitz 2012 03 16 Former Agriprocessors officials still in Israel Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2012 04 19 Leys Tony May 3 2013 Postville plant supervisor who fled to Israel after 08 raid is due in C R court today Des Moines Register AP May 3 2013 Iowa Poultry Plant Manager Faces Charges in Court The New York Times Retrieved July 29 2013 AP June 6 2013 Trial delayed for ex Agriprocessors manager Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved July 29 2013 Foley Ryan February 1 2014 Kosher slaughterhouse manager gets 41 month sentence Times of Israel Retrieved 10 July 2015 Slaughterhouse Manager Convicted in Fraud Case The New York Times November 13 2009 Retrieved June 21 2010 Charges Dismissed Judge dismisses 72 immigration charges against former Agriprocessors CEO AP October 23 2009 Retrieved June 21 2010 Julia Preston 2010 07 23 Former Manager of Iowa Slaughterhouse Is Acquitted of Labor Charges The New York Times Retrieved 2010 06 08 Luke Nozicka 2017 12 21 President Trump commutes sentence of Sholom Rubashkin ex Iowa slaughterhouse executive Des Moines Register Jeff Reinitz 2010 07 01 Man sentenced in vehicle title scheme Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 07 26 Ornelas India J Yamanis Thespina J Ruiz Raymond A 2020 The Health of Undocumented Latinx Immigrants What We Know and Future Directions Annual Review of Public Health 41 289 308 doi 10 1146 annurev publhealth 040119 094211 PMC 9246400 PMID 32237989 Congress puts spotlight on abuses at Iowa plant High Plains Journal 2008 07 28 Retrieved 2010 07 22 Amy Klein 2008 05 22 Meat packing raid stirs larger ethical and economic concerns JewishJournal com Retrieved 2010 08 04 Postville raid prompts immigration protests High Plains Journal 2008 08 04 Retrieved 2008 08 19 Amie Steffen 2009 05 12 Faith leaders unite to support immigration reform Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier Retrieved 2010 08 05 Lynda Waddington 2009 05 13 Postville anniversary rally smaller but mor focused The Iowa Independent Retrieved 2010 08 05 Vigil marks second anniversary of raid Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier 2010 05 13 Postville two years later KWWL com 2010 05 13 Retrieved 2010 08 05 The Newsletter of the Postville Response Coalition Issue 1 Postville Response Coalition 2009 04 27 Retrieved 2010 10 12 Orlan Love 2010 05 12 Two years after Agriprocessors raid Postville is flush with new optimism GazetteOnline com Retrieved 2010 07 28 Rebuild Iowa Office Working to recover Winneshiek Allamakee LTRC Committee Gives Support to New Postville First organization IowaPolitics com Press Release 2010 07 01 Retrieved 2010 07 28 Carolyn Lochhead 2008 07 25 Immigration raids called harsh San Francisco Chronicle Retrieved 2008 08 19 Immigration Raids Postville and beyond Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration Citizenship Refugees Border Security and International Law of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives one hundred tenth Congress second Session July 24 2008 Serial No 110 198 p 8 PDF Retrieved 2010 08 02 Lynda Waddington 2008 08 24 Culver compares Agriprocessors to Sinclair s jungle outlines state response The Iowa Independent Archived from the original on 2010 02 07 Retrieved 2010 06 24 Obama criticizes Agriprocessors Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier 2008 08 27 Retrieved 2010 07 30 Peter Slevin 2010 06 26 Deportation of illegal immigrants increases under Obama administration The Washington Post Retrieved 2010 07 30 AgriProcessors Cruelty Condemned by Experts PETA 2004 11 30 Retrieved 2010 08 06 Donald G McNeil Jr 2004 11 30 Videotapes Show Grisly Scenes at Kosher Slaughterhouse The New York Times Retrieved 2010 08 06 Nathaniel Popper 2006 05 26 In Iowa Meat Plant Kosher Jungle Breeds Fear Injury Short Pay I m not sure these devout Jews are using Jewish ethics to treat their workers The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved 2010 08 06 Samuel G Freedman 2007 05 19 Rabbi s Campaign for Kosher Standards Expands to Include Call for Social Justice The New York Times Retrieved 2010 08 06 Amy Klein 2008 05 22 Meat packing raid stirs larger ethical and economic concerns JewishJournal com Retrieved 2010 08 06 Regarding Rubashkin s Meat Products United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 2008 05 22 Retrieved 2010 08 06 Agriprocessors JLC Policy Statement Jewish Labor Committee 2008 05 23 Retrieved 2010 08 06 Letter to Mr Aaron Rubashkin Uri L Tzedek 2008 05 23 Retrieved 2010 08 06 Marissa Brostoff 2008 06 19 In Heated Meeting Orthodox Activists Spar With Kosher Meat Company The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved 2010 08 06 Lynda Waddington 2008 07 08 Uri L Tzedek Ends Rubashkin Product Boycott The Iowa Independent Retrieved 2010 08 06 Lynda Waddington 2008 09 09 Agriprocessors Orthodox Union to Agriprocessors Hire new management or lose certification The Iowa Independent Retrieved 2010 08 06 Nathaniel Popper 2009 01 21 Orthodox Rabbis Rally Around Rubashkin as He Sits in Jail The Jewish Daily Forward Retrieved 2010 08 09 Paul Vitello 2008 10 08 Label Says Kosher Ethics Suggest Otherwise The New York Times AbUSed at IMDb nbsp Further reading editMark A Grey Michele Devlin and Aaron Goldsmith Postville U S A Surviving Diversity in Small Town America Gemma Media Boston 2009 ISBN 978 1 934848 64 7External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agriprocessors Website of the documentary abUSed The Postville Raid in English and Spanish Facebook Page of The Documentary abUSed The Postville Raid Twitter Account of The Documentary abUSed The Postville Raid Immigration Raids Postville and beyond Hearing before the Subcommittee on Immigration Citizenship Refugees Border Security and International Law of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives one hundred tenth Congress second Session July 24 2008 Serial No 110 198 The Postville Project Luther College and University of Northern Iowa Obama criticizes Agriprocessors News wcfcourier com 1 Cornelia Butler Flora Jan L Flora 2009 Lessons for Immigration Reform PDF Iowa State University Archived from the original PDF on 2011 07 16 Erik Camayd Freixas 2008 06 13 Interpreting after the Largest ICE Raid in US History A Personal Account PDF Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz ed 2010 Perfidy in Iowa The Saga of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin as reported in the pages of Yated Ne eman PDF Yated Ne eman Monsey NY Allison L McCarthy 2010 The May 12 2008 Postville Iowa Immigration Raid A Human Rights Perspective PDF University of Iowa College of Law Transnational Law amp Contemporary Problems Vol 19 293 Archived from the original PDF on July 3 2010 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Postville raid amp oldid 1218917652, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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