Stories

A 43-year-old man who worked as a poultry line supervisor at Agriprocessors during the massive May 2008 immigration raid was sentenced Tuesday on immigration-related charges.
Martin De La Rosa-Loera, of Postville, received the prison term after pleading guilty Aug. 27 to one count of aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented aliens.

Three property management companies that are affiliated with the family that owns the bankrupt Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant have also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Rubashkin family has filed paperwork with the state to stop possible administrative dissolutions of at least four corporate entities it owns, including the beleaguered Agriprocessors plant in Postville.

Attorneys for former Agriprocessors head Sholom Rubashkin argued Monday that anti-Semitic stereotypes were present in grand jury testimony and that the resulting indictment was tainted.

Former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin has requested that his trial be moved from Cedar Rapids to Chicago or Minneapolis because of the pretrial publicity he has received in Iowa.
In court documents, Rubashkin’s lawyer says media reports have identified Rubashkin, whose father founded Agriprocessors, as a former CEO, thereby making it sound like he was responsible [...]

There are two big stories connected to the immigration investigation of Postville’s Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking operation emerging today.
First, former Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin was granted bail and released from the Dubuque County detention facility where he was being held pending trial.  Federal prosecutors argued that Rubashkin was a flight risk.  A federal court judge disagreed [...]

A detention hearing scheduled in federal court this afternoon for Sholom M. Rubashkin, former chief executive of Agriprocessors in Postville, has been delayed until 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 26.
Detention of Rubashkin, ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles in December, has been a subject of controversy due to the use of the Israeli “Law of [...]

Flanked by several rabbis at a press conference in Dubuque Monday, Sholom Rubashkin’s attorney called for his client’s release from jail.

Since U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles handed down his decision that Sholom Rubashkin, former Agriprocessors chief executive, should remain in federal custody pending a hearing on various criminal charges, the Jewish community throughout the nation has openly questioned if at least a portion of the judge’s argument amounted to discrimination.
On Monday night, the final night [...]

The decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles to deny former Agriprocessors chief executive Sholom M. Rubashkin bail may be a topic of consideration by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office. At least, that’s what one Jewish watchdog group is hoping.