How an immigration raid changed a town

Christian Science Monitor ^ | May 31, 2009 | Steve Dinnen

[Lorianne]

By 2008 Agriprocessors, which was being run in Iowa by Mr. Rubashkin's son Sholom, was processing 60,000 chickens and buying 500 cattle a day from area livestock producers. It was the largest kosher meatpacker in the country, employing about 1,000 people.

Agriprocessors hired Jewish rabbis to kill each animal to kosher standards. Further processing was conducted by local hires, and when that pool was tapped out, the company turned to immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Somalia, Mexico, Israel, and most notably Guatemala.

An area first settled by German and other European immigrants (Czech composer Anton Dvorak and his family spent summers in nearby Spillville) suddenly found itself teeming with people from new lands. Adjustments needed to be made, such as including more Spanish in schools and getting acquainted with Jewish customs. Lawler Street, with all its ethnic storefronts, looked like a mini United Nations in a cornfield.

Then Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, some 500 strong, descended on Postville on May 12, 2008, to arrest Agriprocessors workers they suspected of not having proper documents. As helicopters thumped overhead, they rounded up 389 people. It was the largest immigration raid in US history.

The plant foundered under the weight of the raid, and, by November, Agriprocessors declared bankruptcy. It then closed, though a small portion of it has since reopened and is being run by a US Bankruptcy Court trustee.

Most of the illegal workers either accepted immediate deportation or pleaded guilty to immigration or document fraud charges, and, once they had served time, were sent home. Several dozen immigrants, mostly women, were released to care for children. They remain in Postville, but must wear electronic ankle bracelets so the government can monitor them.

[exit82]

Can someone tell me the part where I am supposed to start crying crocodile tears?

[Frantzie]

Deport all the illegals and jail the owners.

[QBFimi]

Maybe we can trim down the we’fare checks a bit an’ get some of the local lounge bums their first job.

[misterrob]

Feel sorry for the kids for having criminals for parents. What did they do to deserve that?

[dalereed]

This should be happening in every city on a daily basis!!!

[MarkL]

Let me start by saying that while I’m Jewish, I don’t keep kosher. However, I do know people who do, and the closing of this plant has impacted the supply of kosher meats, sending the prices up. I wish that the leftists would use this as a lesson in the way the “free market” works. When supply goes down, but demand stays constant, prices trend upwards.

But let’s look at what happened here. From what I’ve read about this place, they were doing massive identity theft, and they also found meth labs at the plant.

This is a case where the management at the plant got massively greedy, and decided that they were going to break a whole bunch of laws, taking an extremely profitable business and turning it into a BIG money generating criminal enterprise.

No tears being shed by me... “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time...”

Mark

[Graybeard58]

Operators of the plant are faring less well. Sholom Rubashkin is awaiting federal trial on charges of bank fraud and violating immigration and packing-plant laws and regulations. Several of his managers face immigration or document-alteration charges. The state has also filed misdemeanor charges against Mr. Rubashkin, including for multiple alleged infractions of child-labor laws

[elkfersupper]

Let me start by saying that while I’m Jewish...

99.9% of your peers vote for Democrats - every time.

Obama is now openly advocating effective eradication of Israel.

I would like to know how this happens.

Just curious.

[Lurker]

The ‘management’ of this place needs some very long prison sentences.

[A_Former_Democrat]

Short term solutions which create long term problems works every time it’s tried . . . right?

[dennisw]

Why don’t you come up with something original?

[jerry639]

Can someone tell me the part where I am supposed to start crying crocodile tears?

I am on the same page with you on that.

Let them cry me a river. if the can't operate a business without running it illegally then they should close their doors.

I don't know where all the illegals have gone in my area but there seem to be less and less. Hopefully they have returned to their countries. Job market is suppressed in this area.

[MarkL]

99.9% of your peers vote for Democrats - every time.

Obama is now openly advocating effective eradication of Israel.

I would like to know how this happens.

Just curious.

That percentage you started with is quite overstated, but I'll certainly agree that the vast majority of Jews vote leftist, nearly 80%. Many of us who don't happen to hang out right here. And in many cases, the way Jews vote have us every bit a perplexed as you are.

Mark

[TBP]

Good. Maybe businesses will learn not to hire illegals.

Unfortunately, as long as the penalty is only money, I think they’re likely to write it off as a business expense. They need to do some jail time and have to do the perp walk for the cameras. That changes things.

[Shermy]

“But let’s look at what happened here.”

The story is nonsense.

Lots of slaughterhouses got hit. They just had to hire Americans at a couple bucks an hour more. The market.

These guys are probably permanently closed for lots of things, not just hiring illegals.

[Tempest]

So they would rather go bankrupt than hire American citizens?

Well then they can F’off.

[jiggyboy]

Now now, this thread is “us vs the illegals”.

[Razz Barry]

Most of the illegal workers either accepted immediate deportation or pleaded guilty to immigration or document fraud charges, and, once they had served time, were sent home. Several dozen immigrants, mostly women, were released to care for children. They remain in Postville, but must wear electronic ankle bracelets so the government can monitor them.

These children, thanks to every branch of our government, will be the taxpayers burden. Our government has failed us at every level.

[Hillarys nightmare]

The writer of this piece, doesn't tell the reader anything other than the fact that the plant was raided and shut down for violations of immigration laws. It appears that this writer is only wanting to focus on "human or community suffering" caused by current federal laws.

The writer failed to paint a complete picture of the situation here, and therefore I assume that he or she has an agenda because of obvious omissions of the circumstances leading up to the situation.

What ever happened to honest journalism in this country? We never get the "complete" and "variable" facts to anything anymore.

[Pelham]

Boo hoo.

I just wish ICE would do this to southern California.

[TheBattman]

The day that the US unemployment rate reaches zero, unemployment payments cease, and the checken/meat processors don’t have enough employees is the day that I start having sympathy for them.

But as long as there are names on the unemployment list and people drawing checks from the government/taxpayer to not work, then there should be basically ZERO imported labor.

[TheBattman]

They just had to hire Americans at a couple bucks an hour more.

Last I checked, the chicken plants here in Arkansas actually start well above minimum wage. Not too shabby for an entry-level job. Too many lazy "Americans" who would rather stay home and draw a check. IT has far less to do with the pay than many are trying to say.

Is the imported illegal labor cheaper? Yes - but a chunk of that is because the employers often pay no SS contributions and no other "extras".

[Tymesup]

Note this is another reason to eliminate the wealth transfer Ponzi scheme known as Social Security.

[iowamark]

I am sorry if kosher meat consumers were inconvenienced by the raids, but we must remember that this plant was pure evil in operation. No religious duty can be involved with such evil.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It pains me to say it but this is exactly the kind of thing that Jesus told off the Pharisees about. As long as the law about, ahem, undocumented immigrants was what it was, Agriprocessors management was only setting itself up for a massive fall and has only itself to blame.

[HiTech RedNeck]

and when that pool was tapped out, the company turned to immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Somalia, Mexico, Israel, and most notably Guatemala

This was a motley crew indeed! I note the distinct lack of Canadians. Apart from the Mexicans, how did they get in here? Seems something wasn't on the up and up. What was going on, in particular, with Somalia, an Islamic stronghold that has gotten itself in most recent news with its pirates?

[nathanbedford]

Rarely is a story in the mainstream media so easily exposed as a plant.

The story has all the elements of a timed piece inserted in the Christian Science Monitor to effect policy.

I became suspicious when I read the following:

In April, representatives of Jewish Community Action (JCA), of St. Paul, Minn., and the Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs visited Postville to offer help. Both groups have worked here for several years. "Jewish organizations ... have a special obligation to take action to improve conditions in this plant for all workers, and to strive for comprehensive immigration reform because we were once immigrants in this country," says JCA head Vic Rosenthal, noting also how important the plant has been in supplying kosher food.(emphasis supplied)

Others are suggesting ways to protect the workers and community if the plant fully resumes operations. Russ Adams, of the Minneapolis-based Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, touts the virtues of "community benefit agreements." These forge pacts between citizens and corporations on issues such as fair labor and environmental practices.

I be-thought myself, who were these groups and why are they coming here from out of town? A quick Google of the "Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs" reveals that coincidentally with this group's excursion from Chicago to Postville "to offer help" the group made an excursion to Washington DC. The very first thing that pops up on Google is this press release:

JCUA Meets with White House Staff to Advocate for Immigration

Friday, April 17, 2009

By: Sari Rubin

Progress by Pesach Campaign Makes an Impact

JCUA meets with White House Staff to Advocate for Immigration Reform

Thursday, April 2nd, JCUA leaders, staff and other campaign sponsors met in Washington, D.C. to deliver thousands of Progress by Pesach petition signatures to the White House that expose the harm immigration raids have caused to our communities and to stress the urgency of passing comprehensive immigration reform. The group was joined at a press conference prior to our White House meeting by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and Ms. Kari Moe, Chief of Staff for Congressman Keith Ellison. (Emphasis supplied) http://www.jcua.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5759

How accommodating of the Christian Science Monitor to write an article about one of the most infamous white slavery operations in America since Sinclair Lewis shocked America with his muckraking exposé of Chicago (of all places) slaughterhouses in, The Jungle.

Marching through Google, a search of "Alliance for Metropolitan Stability" reveals it to be an Acorn type community agitation organization and its director, Russ Adams, a reincarnation of a community agitator named Barack Obama. Other hits reveal that those who support the organization include at least one avowed socialist who features the communist manifesto on his blog site. It is frightening and sinister to see the interlocking groups, many of which are touting the grants they receive from the federal government, with interlocking boards of directors etc.

So Russ Adams of Minnesota leaves his home state to join the Chicago Jewish group, also leaving their home state, to visit Iowa where they just happen to be interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor at a time when there is a move in the White House to grant immigration amnesty. The Christian Science Monitor dutifully prints an article which could have been drafted by the socialist groups which not surprisingly concludes that the problem is not that greedy employers gained an unfair competitive advantage over their competitors by hiring illegal immigrants, but that the problem is the government with its militaristic raids and black helicopters has destroyed the multicultural paradise of Mayberry, Iowa. Workers are deported, others are jailed, mothers are manacled, stores are emptied, multiculturalism is devastated, and all because the government will not pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Why, the devastation is so horrible that one cannot even get a decent knish on the main street of Pottsville, Iowa anymore.

I have read with interest the exchange especially among the Jewish posters about the role of Jews in this affair and in their voting patterns in general. I'm inclined to think that we have criminals who exploited American sensitivity over multiculturalism-in this case Kosher foodstuffs-to break the law to gain an illegal competitive advantage. In a sense it is not a Jewish issue. Incidentally, the "Minneapolis-based Alliance for Metropolitan Stability" describes itself as a "faith based organization" but I have seen no other reference whatsoever to anything special spiritual although perhaps exists. If attendance to spiritual concerns does exist within the "Minneapolis-based alliance for Metropolitan Stability" I expect that it will be a "Zen" approach. No doubt, the main thrust is to qualify for federal funding.

But when an avowedly Jewish organization intrudes itself into an out-of-state operation, cloaks itself in righteousness and claims a bogus interest in kosher food supply, one has a right to ask where is the Jewish community coming forward to debunk this exploitation of Judaism for left-wing causes? If they do not come forward, are we not entitled to believe that the Jews in Chicago condone this? How much of this is not a Jewish question but a secular reaction of ethnic Jews who are no longer religious? If there is a substantial number of Jews claiming political leverage by pretending to be something they are not, should honest Jews not condemn them?

If the Jewish community permits secular groups to gain political power by cynically and falsely exploiting Jewish religiosity, are they not courting a legitimate reaction, a blowback?

To the Jews on this thread who responded, I ask you how much of this model can be extrapolated to the behavior of American Jews in every election? I ask you what is the responsibility of the Jewish community to repudiate exploitation of multiculturalism done in their own name?

As a Protestant, I am acutely aware that we have been blackguarded by an especially pernicious reverse application of this kind of multiculturalism. The most recent case is in the assassination of Dr. Tiller. I ask posters on this thread, what responsibilities do Jews have to speak up against this kind of bigotry? I ask them, whether there is an identifiable statistical segment of Judaism which is secular and bigoted against Christians? If there is, what is the responsibility of Jews to speak out against this? Did we not see this reflected in the reaction to George W. Bush and his transparent faith? Have Jews fulfilled this civic responsibility from a society in which they demand to be protected against the same kind of bigotry?

[dennisw]

Postville raid has hurt the kosher food supply so hopefully another company will take over the operation. Which is pretty much turnkey since all the equipment and machinery is in place

All they have to do is to do it legally and profits are there

[dennisw]

To the Jews on this thread who responded, I ask you how much of this model can be extrapolated to the behavior of American Jews in every election? I ask you what is the responsibility of the Jewish community to repudiate exploitation of multiculturalism done in their own name?

American Jews are liberal. You expect me to wave a magic wand?
If you support Israel your support is dependant on what American Jews do?
You should support Israel because it fights Jihad

[nathanbedford]

No Dennis, of course I do not expect you to wave a magic wand. I know you have posted thoughtfully in the past about which the conundrum of Jews voting Liberal.

You raise the issue of support for Israel, do you believe that Obama's speech and his apparent turning away from America's historic support of Israel will adversely affect domestic Jewish support for this administration? Or, will the speech and the trimming of the policy be rationalized as a new and thoughtful approach to the stalemate which carries with it hope of a breakthrough?

As a Protestant, I have no doubt that Obama will be far more responsive to the sensitivities of his Jewish supporters that he will be to "bitter clingers" like myself. I am not unmindful that George Bush's staunch support of Israel gained him few or no points with the domestic Jewish electorate. Will Obama's position cost him points?

How can conservatives capitalize on this situation?

[Lorianne]

Good work.

[SaraJohnson]

Greedy shysters building their houses on sand are shocked when it comes tumbling down.

This seems to be the Left’s new business ethics at work across the board as we have banksters giving loans to people with no money, car companies negotiating unsustainable salaries and benefits with unions, newspapers hating their readers until they go out of business, net work news folks serving as open propagandists to benefit their GE corporate owner’s grab for government money...

May they all go out of business quickly and raise the gene pool of the CEO’s and business owners and investors who survive.

[dennisw]

So far American Jews are hanging in there with 0bamma. When America gets wise to him then the Jews will. My sense is American Jews will go along with Obama’s destroy Israel program unless something explosive takes place here or over there

Obamma is a smooth operator and is doing a slow strangulation of Israel which is a front line state against the Jihad. He is trying to force out Netanyahu same as Bill Clinton did. But these plans can explode and Israel just may make them explode out into the open

[dennisw]

As a Protestant, I have no doubt that Obama will be far more responsive to the sensitivities of his Jewish supporters that he will be to “bitter clingers” like myself.......

Not true. He toys with everyone and wants your vote and support or at least to shut up. Jewish donors are big and lets see what they do with 0bamma. But corporate titans cower so maybe they will too

[WashingtonSource]

What was the phrase — fry me a lizard?

[elkfersupper]

Why don’t you come up with something original?

Because I still wonder why Jews and Catholics can overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.

I guess I just don't get it.

[dennisw]

If you against Jihad then you support Israel. What American Jews do is not a factor to me. Israel is on the Muslim list of nations to destroy and Europe is next.

If you are an isolationist who could give a hoot about world wide Jihad then you do what you like