ICE Raids Agriprocessors in Iowa

Noted as the largest immigration raid on a single facility in U.S. history, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials swept into the rural town of Postville, Iowa on May 12, 2008, where they raided Agriprocessors Inc., the largest processing center for Kosher beef, turkey, lamb, chicken and veal in the United States.

Agriprocessors packages meat under labels such as Aaron’s Best, Aaron’s Choice, Rubashkins, European Glott, Supreme Kosher, David’s and Shor Harbor. According to the company’s website, these products can be found in Albertson’s, Kroger, Shop Rite, Wal-Mart, Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, Pathmark and H.E. Butt.

Approximately 50% of Agriprocessors work force was arrested on May 12, including 18 juveniles. However, the facility was operating the next day. According to a report by Ben Harris for JTA, employers were allegedly back to the same tactics of offering to pay in cash and forgo papers, while neglecting to live up to agreements, such as payment of wages and expense reimbursement for travel to the plant.

History of Agriprocessors

Agriprocessors was founded in 1987 by Aaron Rubashkin, a butcher from Brooklyn, New York. Onsite operations at the meat processing facility have been conducted by Rubashkin’s son, Rabbi Sholom Rubashkin. The Rubashkins and many other operators, who oversaw Agriprocessors, are Hassidic Jews, an ultra-Orthodox group of practitioners of Judaism.

In its May 23, 2008 policy statement regarding Agriprocessors, the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) listed the company’s most troubling practices as “abuse of child labor laws; failure to pay workers the full amount of wages they have earned; unnecessary exposure of workers to dangerous and life-threatening conditions; and sexual harrassment.”

The JLC goes on to state that it believes “Agriprocessors is actively waging a campaign of intimidation and harassment against workers who have expressed an interest in exercising their legal right to union representation.”

In other words, the recent activity by ICE may not be much more than a coordinated effort to assist employers with strike-busting.

Indeed, Sholom Rubashkin’s “Letter to the Customers of Agriprocessors” dated November 14, 2007 accuses the United Farm and Commercial Workers (UFCW) of “engaging in conduct that has been referred to as ‘waging economic war’ on an unorganized company.”

The Agriprocessors Affidavit

The 57-page affidavit and search warrant filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern Iowa seems to make a strong case for criminal and civil misconduct at the plant. Moreover, it suggests a pattern of conduct that would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Rubashkins to have not known about.

Offenses described in the affidavit include

• Repeated instances of undocumented workers acquiring false identification, including social security numbers, green cards, and birth certificates
• Hiring of minors under the age of 18 to work at the meat-processing facility.
• Worker abuse, including one employee who alleges that a supervising rabbi duct-taped his eyes shut and hit him in the head with a meat hook.
• A methamphetamine lab operating onsite at the Agriprocessors facility.
• Illegal sales of both weapons and automobiles, including pressuring employees to buy cars.

In an interview with NPR, Antonio Olivo, who reported on the raid for The Chicago Tribune, described the scenario as what appeared to be “a tacit arrangement between the employers and workers” regarding use of false and stolen identification documents. Read his article here.

More of the Same

The practice of hiring undocumented workers for these low-skilled, low-paying, dangerous jobs is widespread.

For example, ICE investigators conducted a similar raid at six plants owned by Greeley, Colorado-based Swift & Company in December 2006, when they detained and removed approximately 1,300 Swift Beef and Swift Pork employees. (Swift & Company has numerous unionized factories.)

The plant was operational the next day. By May 2007, Swift & Company released a statement that it had returned to normal domestic staffing levels at both its beef and pork plants. No criminal or civil charges were filed against Swift & Company.

In addition to the widespread hiring of undocumented workers and other criminal activity at the plant,

Agriprocessors has been cited for:

• Cruelty to Animals
• Environmental degradation
• Mislabeling of product content.

In an AP Report issued on May 23, 2008, owner Aaron Rubashkin announced a “need for new leadership” at Agriprocessors and stated that the company will begin looking for a new Chief Executive Officer.

As of the same day, almost 400 hundred mostly Guatemalan and Mexican workers faced deportation, jail time, or parole.

Read The American Meat Processing Industry to learn more about the adverse health effects and tainted food supply resulting from normal practices of U.S. meat processing Industry.

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds