Stories

If immigration issues were a political football in this year’s state legislative races, then Senate District 8, an area that encompasses Howard, Chickasaw, Allamakee and Winneshiek counties in northeastern Iowa and includes the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant, was the 50-yard line.

Jewish rabbis were not paid Friday, and it was not the first time time. Other employees did receive paychecks, although some voiced concern that the checks may not clear. The rabbis were asked for patience and promised payments as soon as possible.

According to a source who attended a meeting Friday with upper management, the plant plans to concentrate on poultry production — particularly on chicken — in the near future. The plant’s beef line has operated only sporadically over the past two weeks.

Nearly six months after federal authorities swarmed the small town of Postville and detained roughly half of a kosher meatpacking plant’s workforce on suspected immigration violations, shock waves are still being felt throughout Iowa and the nation.

Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive officer and vice president of Agriprocessors, has been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit, aiding and abetting document fraud, and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

The Iowa Independent broke the news today that former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin has been arrested by federal officials for allegedly conspiring to hire undocumented workers for financial gain.  Since Election Day is only days away, the story is likely to have a political impact.
So who’s the big winner from all of this?
My first instinct [...]

“Once again, Agriprocessors has demonstrated a complete disregard for Iowa law,” Dave Neil, Iowa labor commissioner, said in a prepared statement this morning. “This continued course of violations is a black mark on Iowa’s business community.”

Postville Mayor Bob Penrod is speaking out to the national media about what the May 12 immigration enforcement action at Agriprocessors meant to his community, and what it didn’t.

Two women, previous employees in the Agriprocessors human resources department, pleaded not guilty in federal court today to charges related to illegal immigration.

A 26-year-old Guatemalan man who previously worked at Agriprocessors in Postville will soon begin a two-year sentence in federal prison for identity theft.

After nearly four months of searching, the Postville meatpacking plant that was the site of a massive May immigration raid has named a new chief executive officer.