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> Experts: Kosher slaughter house owners may be indicted
> The Jerusalem Post
> By MICHAL LANDA, NEW YORK
> Owners of the country's largest Kosher slaughter house that was raided
> this week could be indicted for a series of charges related to illegal
> immigration, experts suggest.
> In what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement called the largest
> raid of its kind, agents arrested 390 employees at the Agriprocessors
> plant in Postville, Iowa, Monday, more than a third of the company's
> workers. Three Israelis were among those being held on charges of
> being in the country illegally.
> Thursday, the slaughterhouse said it launched its own investigation
> into the circumstances leading to the raid and that it was making
> efforts to improve compliance with federal immigration standards.
> "We are working with experts in immigration compliance to help us
> bolster our compliance efforts to employ only properly documented
> employees," said Chaim Abrahams, a company representative, in a
> statement.
> An affidavit filed as part of an application for a search warrant
> lists pages of allegations against owners and supervisors of the
> company, including physical abuse and exploitation of workers.
> In that document a former supervisor claims that roughly 80 percent of
> the workforce was illegal. That source also said he saw production of
> the drug methamphetamines-also known as crystal meth-- at the plant
> and of weapons being brought there.
> Countless other charges include underpaying workers and knowingly
> hiring workers without documentation.
> One allegation claims a "Jewish floor supervisor" duct-taped the eyes
> of an undocumented Guatemalan worker, shut and hit the man with a meat
> hook, "apparently not causing serious injuries."
> Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, says the
> government could go after owners of the company, as they have done in
> other meatpacking related raids, where owners were charged of
> harboring illegal aliens
> .
> The affidavit suggests at least one line supervisor who ran his own
> business of hiring illegal aliens, who were paid off the books.
> The government will most likely pursue him and possibly move up the
> chain of command, suggested Stern.
> "There is enough in the affidavit to suggest that the government is at
> least contemplating such charges," said Stern. At the same time, he
> said "it could be they wont be able to build a case, and it could be
> there is no case to build."
> Meanwhile local legislators have called for the company to be
> penalized. US Congressman Bruce Braley of Iowa, wrote a letter to the
> US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which conducted Monday's
> raids, urging them to "fully investigate" Agriprocessors for possible
> immigration law violations.
> Either way, Rubashkin's practices are "deeply embarrassing" said
> Stern. The company's practices go beyond the "horrible labor and
> safety records" of the meatpacking industry, Stern said.
> "You wonder how people look at themselves in the mirror," said Stern.
> "It's worse than embarrassing for a company that provides religiously
> acceptable foods to have this list of supposed allegations."
> Similar sentiment led members of the Conservative movement's Hekhsher
> Tzedek Commission to condemn the company this week, saying that
> kashrut requires more than adherence to ritual matters.
> "The actions of this company have brought shame upon the entire Jewish
> community," the commission said. "Yesterday's discovery, along with
> the other violations of the ethical standards set forth by our Torah
> and our tradition underscore the need for Hekhsher Tzedek. To be sure,
> halacha has never limited its concern to the ritual elements of
> kashrut alone."
> The Commission was established in part as a response to prior
> allegations against Rubashkin.
> The recent raid is the latest trouble to befall the Rubashkin family,
> the Chabad-affiliated owners of the country's largest Kosher
> slaughtering plant. Earlier this year, the company was fined $182,000
> for violations at the plant. And in the past few years the company has
> been the target of an undercover investigation by People for the
> Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animals rights group, which
> criticized the company for certain slaughter practices.
> In 2006, the Forward newspaper revealed allegations that workers were
> underpaid and exploited.
> Agriprocessors produces about 60 percent of the kosher meat and 40
> percent of the kosher poultry in the US market.
> So far the Orthodox Union which certifies and supervises
> Agriprocessors, is waiting to follow the lead of the Federal
> government.
> "We'll see where this leads in terms of determinations the government
> makes," Rabbi Genack told the Jewish Week. "If they find that the
> company is culpable we will respond.
> If the government concludes that the company's owners were culpable,
> "It certainly would be something we would be concerned about," he
> said.
