12:40PM EST: [UPDATES POSTED BELOW] Federal prosecutors have arrested Sholom Rubashkin, former chief executive officer and vice president at Agriprocessors and son of company founder Aaron Rubashkin, on a criminal complaint that alleges the man conspired in immigration-related offenses.
The criminal complaint is the first against any high-level member of Agriprocessors management and comes in the wake of a massive May 12 immigration raid at the plant. In all, 389 workers — nearly half the plant’s workforce — was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
According to documents filed with the court, Rubashkin “did knowingly conspire, confederate and agree with others, for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, to harbor one or more aliens at his place of employment in Postville, Iowa, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that such aliens had come to, entered and remained in the United States and aided and abetted the possession and use of fraudulent identification documents and aided and abetted aggravated identity theft.”
According to Michael Fischels, a special agent with the Dept. of Homeland Security, dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards were discovered and seized from offices within the human resources department at Agriprocessors during the May 12 raid.
“Most of the cards were attached to application paperwork dated May 11 or May 12, 2008,” Fischels wrote in the affidavit filed with the court. “Additional resident alien cards were groups in stacks and not attached to any paperwork. Based upon common features, ICE agents determined that the vast majority of the fraudulent resident alien cards came from the same manufacturer. Out of approximately 96 fraudulent resident alien cards, approximately 90 exhibited alien registration numbers which were then assigned to other actual persons.”
Fischels added that approximately 13 of the cards taken from the offices had photographs of people known to be working at the plant prior to May 11. All but two of the cards, however, “exhibited names which were different than the names the employees had been working under.”
The fraudulent resident alien cards are crucial to the case the government is making against Rubashkin because they are a physical link to claims made by former employees that Rubashkin provided $4,500 in cash as a loan to employees who could not afford to update their falsified documents.
The former plant supervisors, who remain unidentified in the affidavit, allegedly met with Rubashkin near the barn area on the Agriprocessors’ grounds on May 8 and asked for $4,500 to help employees slated for termination purchase new fraudulent documents. According to court documents, Rubashkin provided the supervisors the money in cash the following morning.
The unidentified supervisor, who worked in the beef-kill area, in turn presented employees in that department with $200 each as a loan so the employees could purchase the new documents.
Rubashkin will make an initial appearance in federal court for the Northern District of Iowa this afternoon.
UPDATE 6:00PM EST: After an initial appearance in federal court on Thursday afternoon, Rubashkin’s attorney F. Montgomery Brown said Rubashkin intends to plead not guilty. Rubashkin waived a preliminary hearing and agreed to be released on his own recognizance on the condition that he put up a $500,000 bond by Nov. 5 and wear a GPS tracking bracelet on his ankle.
Prosecutor Peter Deegan said Thursday in court that Rubashkin is a flight risk because he “has access to substantial assets.” Deegan also said Rubashkin is “likely to face one of the lengthier sentences” of anyone involved with the Agriprocessors raid and subsequent fallout.
Rubashkin agreed to forfeit his and his wife’s passports and agreed not to leave the northern district of Iowa.
Rubashkin’s next appearance in court has not yet been set.
Meanwhile, sources tell YWN that major parts of the massive plant have been shut down. One source said that no Shechita was done during the past week at the plant.
(YWN-Lipas / Lynda Waddington for The Iowa Independent LINK)
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43 Responses
Pardon me, this is not exciting no matter where these people belong…
This is an unfortunate development and while he is innocent until proven guilty we always need to be cognizant of our actions.
MOSRIM!!!
This is probably where the prosecutors were heading all along. He should get the best of lawyers and prove himself worthy of the trust of people who have been eating food from his facility and have so strenuously defended him here. I hope he wins and doesn’t get jailed. But that doesn’t mean agriprocessors and rubashkins deserve our trust.
deepthinker, does mesirah and its sanctions apply when there is habeas corpus, due process, and presumption of innocence?
Why was my comment censored?
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DeepThinker
Let us analyze your claim.
There are 2 forms of evidence here
1. Physical/Circumstatial – fradulent green cards are not mechuyav bemitsvos
2. Lower Level employees who you claim are mosrim. Colloquially they word Moseir applies but not halachically. Aa Aino-Yehudi cannot be a moseir.
we should never ever trust any owner of a store, factory, restaurant or any food facility. Money blinds. All food production should always have a hechsher and it is the Rav Hamachshir that you trust.
Let’s pray that all of the charges are dismissed. I doubt any other plant will have to deal with such things.
deepthinker
that was a really deep comment, such amkus
When you think of the thousands of businesses that harbor illegal aliens, one must wonder why they prosecute so few, and one of their main targets is a Jew. We should spend more time learning, doing Chesed, and give additional Tzedakdah to get Hashem to have Rachamanus on sein Volk, Yisroel (His people, Israel). A few extra Tehilim might also be apropos.
If Rubashkin is forced to close, it will affect the cost of all kosher meat in the states and many good goyim will lose their jobs too.
to #9
let HAlacha decide if a person making money is not believed .
eid echad neman be’isurim!!
however see darkei tshuva if this applicable today. ask a competent rav.
why doesnt the goverment go after walmart they have 1.4 billion workers i am sure you could find at least 400 workers who are illegal this is all anti semetic this better get over B4 obama comes to town
Yidden: This effects all of us. Please say Tehillim! Beg the Abishter to intervene on OUR behalf during these troublesome times.
Sometimes regardless of the truth it pays to cop a plea, otherwise they really come down hard on you.
Rachmanim, Bayshanim, v’Gomlei Chasadim!
Noach took all animals into the Teyva. Not just kosher ones. Chesed towards an aino yehudi is in sync with the Torah.
It takes a courageous man to do what is right. These people are being threatened with being sent back to a murderous bad society. Perhaps this could have been done differently. Perhaps there was no other way. I don’t know.
Boruch H-shem there were chasidei umos ha-olam who did the same thing for us during the milchama. A malchus shel chesed should see this for what it really is: Chesed of a yid – towards human beings. We do not stand by when people we know are at risk.
When Chesed Amiti wins over PETA, which side will you be on?
Mi K’Amcha Yisroel!
charlie, you think the immigarion authorities are logging onto yeshiva world to see our take on illegal immigration? and is our take on it out of the mainstream conservative position, which is held across the rights political spectrum? and when have we been illegal immigrants in any meaningful numbers? to the best of my knowledge, in this country as well as others we have resided in, we came at the invitation of the host or at least with their acquiesence.
The hiring of illegal immigrants in large scale, and in large numbers, is widespread in the secular/non-kosher meat industry. I don’t recall any CRIMINAL prosecutions of other company’s in this position management, at most civil fines/prosecution. And even the civil fines imposed on them, pale in comparison to what is being levied here against Agri.
Now it is reported on CNN.com it has become a “Chilul Ha-sham” issue.
This is a sad,sad day for all of American Jewry. The Rubashkins alone brought down the price of meat and poultry for all of us. Without Aaron’s product the commercial price of meat and poultry will go up substantially.
Also, theer are lots of people in th e greater USA that eat kosher meat and poultry only because of the Rubashkins.
We should all daven (as klall yisroel has done throughout history) for the saftey of teh Rubashkins and that the market prices for meat and poultry remain affordable.
Lastly, we should put presure on our Rabbonim that they should not accept companies to raise their prices – just because theer is less competition.
is not lashon hara to mention this story
I don’t know who your sources are, but only the beef dept has not had shechita this week, the chicken and turkey had regular shechita.
Maybe more people will become vegetarians now.
its lashon hara
As Rav Breuer ZT”L once stated “It’s more important to be glatt yosher than glatt kosher”.Too bad we Orthos have a long way to go before we meet that ideal.
To #14, #16, #22 and to everyone who thinks that Agrispocessors is being singled out for an immigration raid, you are all dead wrong. The FEDs conduct these raids all the time. Simply Google “illegal immigration raid” and you will get search results of hundreds of stories which are not related to Agriproccesors. BTW, the largest immigration raid that I know of took place Laurel Mississippi at the Howard Industries transformer plant where 600 workers were arrested this August. This is not a Jewish company. Wake-up people! Hiring illegal immigrants is illegal in the US and you need to abide by the law of the land as the Torah commands you to! Having cheaper kosher meat on the table is not a good excuse to brake the law of the land.
If you have concerns about Rubashkins go to
http://www.agrifacts.info Look at the website yourself.
In general there is zero Kashrus problems, but there are some buisiness issues
regarding illegal aliens and the resulting challenges of operating a buisniness after the raid. There was no abuse of workers. The workers
are treated fairly and according to the industry standard and more.
Many safety issues are grossly exagerated. multiple violations were given due to one extension cord. $10,000 fine was given because two
outlets weren’t covered. ( other such examples are found on the website). The large number of child labor violations is due to multiplying violations by days working. The underage employs looked like adults and have (false) papers that were stating that they are adults..
The Rubashkin family is wonderful and they
are doing everything in their power to get things in order and they need and deserve our support…
So this is what it comes down to. Some workers came to him for a gemach, and he helped them. That’s what the Rubashkins are like: if
you need help they won’t turn you away. Their old papers were shown to be bad, and if they didn’t come up with new papers he would have had
to fire them, so he lent them money and they came up with new papers.
Now he didn’t have to throw them out on the street. And that’s supposed to be a big avla? Sounds like a mitzvah to me.
Sholom is hosting a big seudas hodoah started at 8 pm.
This is all a plot by sonei yisrael acting thru PETA. When the Rebbe comes the Rubashkin family will be shown to be martyrs.
to #32 – Alice:
Yes go ahead and look at all those cases and you will see how the goverment has not gone nearly as far. I.e. in the howard industries case there were minors working at the plant, did you hear about it in the press?! Also it is very unusual for an affidavit preceding a raid to be publicized to the public and this was done in Iowa. There many more examples that show that there is an agenda in Postville.
From a freind who is in Postville, Iowa.
Remember that:
1) This arrest comes strategically before next week’s elections, to the benefit of local, statewide, and national candidates on both sides.
2) The United Commercial Food Workers union in collusion with media and social-action forces have agitated for the anti-Agriprocessors, anti-kashrus, and anti-Torah climate here in Iowa. They have pushed the situation way beyond the bounds of normalcy.
Do not be deceived by the noise the world makes. Do not forget . . . Ein Od Milvado!
Oh, and ….
I was just thinking how strong our federal Government is. In the last 7 years they stopped teror in the world, took over Iraq caught Bin Laden and the Taliban .
and finaly they get rubashkin on a $4500 loan
wow!
Who’s cleaning your bathroom? If you are thinking this doesn’t apply to me then here goes: Who’s cleaning your shul- I guess you. Who’s cleaning your school -I guess the principal. Who’s delivering your pizza? I guess the owner of the pizza store. Who’s peeling the potatoes and onions in your local takeout? I guess the owner’s wife.Who’s fixing your flat tire and doing your oil change? -I guess chaveirim. Who’s doing all the heavy work at the grocery? I guess the owner with all his einiklach. Who babysits for you when you go to a wedding? I guess your bubby. Who’s selling you aravos? I guess the shul candyman. Who collects money by the mikva? I guess some bored adults.The list goes on and on….Hack nisht kein chainik. Everyone should look in the mirror before they say anything.
Charlie,
Indeed, but that cannot mean the U.S. must throw open its doors to all comers. There is a legal system, and line jumpers should not get preference to those who legally wait their turn for a visa.
The comparable enforcement on other business’ (notably in the non-kosher poultry industry) in the same matzif has been far less action against management. That raises the issue that Agri is being targeted for who they are, more than anything they may have done.
Finally, LEGAL immigration would have been a far preferable option. If I recall history correctly, the authorities were rather succesful in preventing large numbers of illegal immigartion in the 40’s.
There goes meat & chicken prices thru the roof.
The Nazi like arrest,helicopter commando style raid speaks volumes.Anyone who still thinks this is an objective law enforcement raid,please rethink your case.
BH KAJ is out.
Joseph,
Perhaps you are unaware that our legal system allows for only 10,000 unskilled workers to enter the US annually (this does not include others who marry Americans, win the visa lottery or have other entitlement to residence). Consequently, there is no real legal option for unskilled workers. Unfortunately this system encourages illegal entry and tempts employers to hire illegals. Also, I believe that other immigration raids have resulted in prosecution of HR managers, but the fact that the government has not gone against management in other cases may be explained by the suggestion that management was not involved in counterfiting documents which is the accusation here.
#42 bacci, you are 100% right. this phenomenon, not just of frum people and businesses involved in large scale serious crimes (and the agri case is far from the only one), but the resulting cries of “anti-semitism!” “everyone else does it!” “they were only stealing from/harming goyim!” “but they give so much tzedaka!” is incredibly hypocritical, and our kids can see right through it. is this what we say in yom kippur davening?? “but hashem, everyone else does it!” “but hashem, i gave a lot of tzedaka this year!”
consider for a moment how we would explain this situation to our children, and what the resulting lesson they take away would be. when you explain that the head of the largest kosher meat producer in the world (a frum, chassidishe man) was arrested for serious federal crimes, do you explain to your child that “you see, the government is always out to get yidden” or “everyone commits this crime so the government should not have arrested him” or “this man is a great baal tzedakka”??? are these the lessons you want your child to learn from this?? or would you (or should you) explain that this case has become a colossal chillul hashem (as it is being covered by CNN and other national media for some time now), and how no matter what it is always SO important for yidden to conduct their businesses honestly and legally (no matter what others do!), because chas ve’shalom, we see the incredible chillul hashem that can result if not. don’t you think that perhaps this is a better chinuch for our children???
well, the bottom line is that kids aren’t stupid, they hear, see, read, etc. what their parents, etc. say and think. and what do you think your kids are thinking when they hear their parents pull out every defense in the book for any case of a frum person committing a crime?? like bacci said, this is pure hypocrisy.
i also think its interesting to note the juxtaposition of this with another YWN story about the yeshiva world’s obsession with the latest expensive designer fashions. this is another example of the deep hypocrisy which our children pick up on, and which surely leads many of them off the derech. we can talk all we want about being frum, ruchniyus, torah, etc., etc., but it doesn’t mean very much when our kids see day in and day out that the most important things in our lives are worldly possessions (cars, homes, jewelry, clothing, etc.) and their pursuit. when it comes to yiddishkeit, we have made it very easy to ‘talk the talk’ (wear this suit/hat, go to this yeshiva, live in this neigborhood, wear this sheitle) but we aren’t really ‘walking the walk.’ our kids aren’t dumb. they see this. i think almost all kids who go off the derech will tell you that at least some part of their decision had something to do with the hypocrisy they saw/experienced in the frum world. something to think about.
To zalmy,
I agree with your comments except when it comes to illegals. The true hypocrites in immigration are own governments. The president had it right when he said we should let them in but control it. I do not condone breaking any law, but it is very hard for the avg. citizen to keep this law as I will explain. The hypocrisy we see is this- we let them come in -we should have built a border fence and increased patrols years ago. We don’t send then back- it should be the job of every cop in America to randomly check people’s papers and if they aren’t in order they should be sent to a detention center pending an inquiry for deportation. They shouldn’t be entitled to any medical care, even emergency care or any schooling. But the fact is we give them this and we allow org. to give them money for housing, food and other necessities. If we would stop these bleeding heart policies, the mexicans wouldn’t want to come here. What person would want to live here even if they could find a job, if they wouldn’t be able to get medical care if needed? We have created this intolerable situation ourselves and we want to lay the blame on a bunch of employers who want to take financial advantage of this situation. When you point a finger at someone, three point backwards!
Zalmy great point and as I wrote to your hero bacci, I hope the Ribono Shel Oilam has more rachmunus on you, than you have on other Yidden.
Bacci-
Iguess all my guesses are right and you don’t hire anyone illegally.
For the record, I don’t hire undocummented workers to clean my house or do any other work for me.
But that isn’t the point.
The point is the hypocrisy of teaching our children G-d’s law and then not ACTING according to that law. Our children see this and they draw one of two possible conclusions: a) We are all hypocrites, or; b) Its ok to cheat and steal. This is the real lesson of Agriprocessors, Rav Wiesmandel and the OU. As long as your machen gelt, nothing else matters.
By the way for everyones information there is a shortage of chicken. So everyone may want to stock up!