Iowa meatpacker fined $10M after immigration raid

[natty bumppo 297]

DES MOINES (AP) — Iowa on Wednesday fined a kosher meatpacking plant that was targeted by a federal immigration raid nearly $10 million for alleged violations of state labor laws.

Labor Commissioner Dave Neil assessed the civil penalties against Agriprocessors in Postville for what he called repeated violations of Iowa's wage laws from January 2006 to June 2008.

The alleged violations included illegally deducting sales tax and miscellaneous costs, and failing to pay dozens of workers their last paycheck after the May raid by federal immigration agents.

The civil penalties total more than $9.9 million.

An Agriprocessors spokesman didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Also on Wednesday, a human resources employee of Agriprocessors changed her plea to guilty for her role in helping illegal workers use false documents to work at the plant.

Laura Althouse, 38, of Postville, appeared in federal court in Cedar Rapids to enter her plea to charges of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain and aggravated identity theft. She originally faced the conspiracy charge as well as charges of aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

Her lawyer didn't immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

The U.S. attorneys office said Althouse remains free on bail pending sentencing, which will scheduled after a presentence investigation report is completed. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge, and up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the aggravated identity theft charge.

Link to article

[Chica Yeyé 41]

A good beginning I think. Fine them more and more and more. Good.

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

:dance: :dance: :dance:

[HAL 9000 96]

Skim an extra $1M and send it this way for the Annual VJ Christmas Party.

I wonder what people want with $10M not being enough. Firing squad?

[natty bumppo 297]

Skim an extra $1M and send it this way for the Annual VJ Christmas Party.

I wonder what people want with $10M not being enough. Firing squad?

firing squad ... that's overkill

just send a message ... loud and clear

[Mononoke28 135]

So in reality, who gets that money if he pays up? ICE? the USCIS? The government?

Diana

[natty bumppo 297]

So in reality, who gets that money if he pays up? ICE? the USCIS? The government?

Diana

they are all gov't

[Mononoke28 135]

But which PART OF THE GOVERMENT.

I need to write it out in crayons so they understand it.

Diana

[HAL 9000 96]

Well one thing that could perhaps work to make people on VJ happy is if they increase illegal employer fines.

Then decrease the cost on legal filers.

[IAMX 3,055]

But which PART OF THE GOVERMENT.

I need to write it out in crayons so they understand it.

Diana

[natty bumppo 297]

But which PART OF THE GOVERMENT.

I need to write it out in crayons so they understand it.

Diana

it was a correct answer ...

[Mononoke28 135]

Not really. It didn't answer the question.

MOVING ON...

Diana

[natty bumppo 297]

Not really. It didn't answer the question.

MOVING ON...

Diana

option 3 was the gov't ... all encompassing of the first two ...

the court may receive the $$$ first ... then transfer it to ... the gov't

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

FOLLOW UP STORY:

Iowa slaughterhouse pleads not guilty after raid

DES MOINES, Iowa – A kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids pleaded not guilty Friday to efforts to employ undocumented workers.

A lawyer for the Agriprocessors plant in Postville participated by telephone in the hearing in Cedar Rapids.

A grand jury last month returned a 12-count indictment against the company and its managers. Federal immigration agents raided the plant in May and arrested 389 workers.

Among the charges the company faces are harboring and aiding undocumented workers, document fraud, identity theft and bank fraud. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 20.

Three managers have pleaded not guilty to related charges, and two others facing charges haven't been located.

A federal judge this week denied a request by Sholom Rubashkin, the jailed former CEO of Agriprocessors, for more time to appeal his detention.

Rubashkin had asked that the deadline for filing the appeal be extended to Dec. 19 so he could assemble a legal team and do more research.

Agriprocessors has also struggled financially. The company filed for bankruptcy protection last month and was forced to briefly halt production altogether.

A bankruptcy trustee recently resumed operations at a dramatically reduced level.

link

[Dan J 277]

FOLLOW UP STORY:

Iowa slaughterhouse pleads not guilty after raid

DES MOINES, Iowa – A kosher slaughterhouse that was the site of one of the nation's largest immigration raids pleaded not guilty Friday to efforts to employ undocumented workers.

A lawyer for the Agriprocessors plant in Postville participated by telephone in the hearing in Cedar Rapids.

A grand jury last month returned a 12-count indictment against the company and its managers. Federal immigration agents raided the plant in May and arrested 389 workers.

Among the charges the company faces are harboring and aiding undocumented workers, document fraud, identity theft and bank fraud. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 20.

Three managers have pleaded not guilty to related charges, and two others facing charges haven't been located.

A federal judge this week denied a request by Sholom Rubashkin, the jailed former CEO of Agriprocessors, for more time to appeal his detention.

Rubashkin had asked that the deadline for filing the appeal be extended to Dec. 19 so he could assemble a legal team and do more research.

Agriprocessors has also struggled financially. The company filed for bankruptcy protection last month and was forced to briefly halt production altogether.

A bankruptcy trustee recently resumed operations at a dramatically reduced level.

link

I know most people are cheering that the federal government cracked down on the illegal workers at the plant. But the situation created a very ugly mess for the town.

After the plant was raided, recruiters were hiring anyone they could get to keep the plant running. Workers were relocated from cities into Postville. Many of whom couldn't find other work, or had questionable backgrounds. Now that the plant is basically closed down, these workers are more or less stranded putting a huge strain on the city.

Lt. Gov. Patty Judge plans to visit Postville today, two days after a citizens' group in the town sent a pointed plea for Iowa leaders' attention.

The northeast Iowa town has been reeling since last May, when its dominant employer was raided by federal immigration agents. The meatpacking company, Agriprocessors Inc., lost half its work force that day and is now in bankruptcy. It resumed limited operations Wednesday after being closed for about three weeks, and it is for sale.

Hundreds of jobs have evaporated, and the City Council recently declared the town of 2,300 people "a humanitarian and economic disaster area."

The letter to state leaders was faxed Tuesday by a group calling itself the Postville Response Coalition, which asked Iowa's state and federal leaders to visit. The recipients included the governor, the lieutenant governor and the state's U.S. senators, none of whom has traveled to the town since the raid.

"Postville feels forgotten," said the coalition, which includes local government officials, religious leaders and human services agencies.

Gov. Chet Culver's spokesman, Troy Price, said Wednesday that the lieutenant governor's trip had been in the works for a couple of weeks. He said it was not being made in response to the letter.

Price noted that other state officials have visited Postville. Their services have included helping former Agriprocessors workers sign up for unemployment payments and food stamps and assisting them with the search for new jobs. The state also has pledged a $700,000 grant to the city to help with workers' rents and utility bills.

"At the end of the day, what matters most is helping people," Price said.

Maryn Olson, who is coordinating the coalition, said Postville residents appreciate the assistance of state administrators. But she said it's also important for top elected officials to visit places that have been struck by disasters. "When the tornado happened in Parkersburg, when the floods happened, everybody was right there," she said.

The letter from the citizens' group was the latest in a series of invitations to state leaders to visit Postville. Last month, religious leaders sent a letter, and in August, Culver turned down an invitation from Agriprocessors' executives to tour the plant after he wrote a sharply critical essay about the company in The Des Moines Register.

Judge visited Postville in 2004 after animal rights activists accused Agriprocessors of inhumane slaughter practices. Judge, who was secretary of agriculture at the time, said the plant's operation seemed fine.

Spokeswomen for Sens. Tom Harkin and Charles Grassley acknowledged Wednesday that the senators have not been to Postville since last May's raid. But they said the senators have worked to help local leaders and former workers deal with the aftermath.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/2...TVILLE_ICE_RAID