Stories

Government asserts that Rubashkin aided flight of Agriprocessors co-worker to Israel
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade has ordered that the Iowa meatpacking manager found guilty on 86 counts of fraud and money laundering will remain behind bars.

Sholom Rubashkin won’t be heading back to court to face 72 counts of immigration-related charges after all.

A jury in Sioux Falls, S.D., returned to the courtroom late Thursday afternoon and delivered judgment on former Agriprocessors manager Sholom M. Rubashkin: Guilty on 86 of 91 possible counts.

Rubashkin, who is the 50-year-old son of company founder and president A. Aaron Rubashkin, was convicted of all possible money laundering and mail, wire and bank fraud charges. He was also convicted on 15 out of 20 counts of failing to provide timely pay to livestock auctions and providers.

A social justice organization has taken a stand against the woman nominated to be the next U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.
Friends of Justice issued a statement Wednesday describing the nomination of Stephanie Rose for U.S. attorney as “just plain wrong.”

According to a spokeswoman in the advertising department of The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, the newspaper has not run or yet been requested to run any ad copy paid for by “Friends of Sholom Rubashkin.”
Rubashkin, the former day-to-day executive at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, recently had his federal trial moved from Iowa to Sioux [...]

A video featuring Rosa Weiss, daughter of Sholom Rubashkin, is circulating throughout the Jewish community in an effort to raise funds to offset legal fees associated with the case that stemmed from the May 2008 Agriprocessors immigration raid.

A Jewish social justice organization is encouraging members to send a message to the new owners of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville in conjunction with the holiday Rosh Hashanah.
Jewish Community Action, an organization that has remained involved in Postville in the wake of the May 2008 immigration raid at the plant, has developed a home-printed [...]

Citing media accounts that prohibit seating of an impartial jury, U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade ruled Tuesday that a trial for four former Agriprocessors supervisors will be moved to Sioux Falls, S.D.

U.S. District Court Judge Linda R. Reade agreed that four former supervisors facing charges stemming from a massive immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plan in Postville needed more time to prepare their defense and ordered Monday that the trail be postponed until Oct. 13.

The marks left behind after a massive May 2008 immigration raid in Iowa are well known by those who have visited the tiny town of Postville; but, according to a new documentary from PBS, the impacts don’t end at city, state, or even national boundaries.