A federal judge has refused a request to remove herself from the case of a human resources worker arrested after a massive immigration raid at a kosher slaughterhouse in Postville.
Chief Judge Linda R. Reade on Friday denied a motion for recusal filed on behalf of 29-year-old Karina Pilar Freund, who is charged with aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants.
Prosecutors contend Freund and another human resources worker, Laura Althouse, helped illegal workers obtain and submit false documents to work at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville. Their trials are scheduled for Nov. 17.
A telephone message left for Freund’s attorney, Mark Brown, wasn’t immediately returned.
He argued in court documents that Reade took part in pre-raid proceedings following a federal immigration raid at Agriprocessors on May 12. That raid resulted in the arrest of 389 people in what officials said was one of the largest single-site immigration busts in U.S. history.
Brown argued that Reade’s involvement in hiring Spanish interpreters, contacting possible defense attorneys and coordinating court proceedings that were held at the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo calls into question her appearance of impartiality.
He referred to a motion for recusal filed in another case _ that of Martin De La Rosa-Loera, a former Agriprocessors supervisor who pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors to aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented immigrants.
In that motion for recusal, De La Rosa-Loera’s attorney Thomas McQueen argued that Reade worked with the federal government in making arrangements for the fast-track judicial proceedings in Waterloo, and that she defended the government’s actions in a New York Times article “despite clearly being on notice that related cases were on the horizon.”
Brown called McQueen’s work “second to none.” He argued that his client is simply asking for verification of issues and proceedings related to the raid that have so far only been available through media reports, motions and briefs filed by defendants who were on trial in Waterloo.
“The defendant, in this motion does not cast aspersions or innuendoes, but simply desires the court to consider and adjudicate her concerns,” Brown wrote in the motion. “As the law dictates, if the court believes that her honors’ ability to be impartial has been diluted based upon the alleged discussions, meetings, public comments and or participation of the court in the Agriprocessors pre-raid court preparation, then recusal must follow.”
Reade denied the motion in the De La Rosa-Loera case, saying she was only performing her official duties as chief judge for the Northern District of Iowa.
In the Freund case, she said Brown did not provide particular reasons why she should recuse herself, but instead refers generally to the De La Rosa-Loera motion that she already denied.
“Accordingly, the court shall deny the motion for the reasons set forth in the court’s order (in the De La Rosa-Loera case),” Reade said.
Freund and Althouse were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in September. Both are believed to still be working in the company’s human resources department.
Althouse was charged with aiding and abetting document fraud, aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants. Freund faces a charge of aiding and abetting undocumented immigrants.
(Source: LINK to Quad-City Times)
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5 Responses
Will the tzaros of the Rubashkins ever end?
Bubby,
Stop wringing your clicking hands in despair and pick up your trusty Tehillim.
Not until their enemies give up.
“Not until their enemies give up”
We will all have to deal with more embarrassing charges shortly. Wait for it.
Yidden, stand strong and proud. No matter what the other details in this case, we should all be proud of Rubaskin for being human and hiring people who ‘merely produced’ acceptable documentation. Where is the border control everywhere else in this country? Illegals stand around on towns’ edges all around the US looking for a few hours of ‘cash’ work, and the police do nothing. West Coast hospital emergency rooms even give ‘illegals’ preferential treatment. An amnesty program was almost passed by Congress for aliens to become citizens, and NYS for one, was going to issue them all drivers’ licenses – no questions asked – don’t even think about asking about their uninsured status. No country can have an unlimited – and certainly not an uncontrolled immigration policy.
It seems to me, the government, instead of acting responsibly ‘at the top’, has created a ‘test case’ of arbitrary and extraneous enforcement beyond the letter of the law with Postville, while ignoring the greater ‘open policy/open border’ problem in general.
Wake up yidden, and see this for what it is – ineffectual government at the top seeking a scapegoat down below. Stand up and compain to the powers that be about the injustice in this case.
By the way, this kind of thing is happening on many other fronts as well — unwarranted bullying of anyone not ‘towing the line’ in medicine, with genetically modified produce, with those exposing the dangers of cellphones, anyone not believing in global warming, and the list goes on.