Thread: Meat plant vows to cooperate in probe

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/108548.html

Meat plant vows to cooperate in probe

The nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse says it takes immigration laws seriously and will cooperate with government investigators.

Agriprocessors responded to federal charges Tuesday, the day after authorities arrested 390 of its employees on immigration violations in the largest workplace raid in U.S. history.

"Our company takes the immigration laws seriously," the statement said. "We cooperated with the government in the enforcement action. We intend to continue to cooperate with the government in its investigation. Agriprocessors will also inquire further into the circumstances that led to today's events."

The company said its facilities were operating after the Monday shutdown. It extended "our heartfelt sympathies to the families whose lives were disrupted and wish them the best."

"The company said its facilities were operating after the Monday shutdown. It extended "our heartfelt sympathies to the families whose lives were disrupted and wish them the best.""

How about the families of United States Citizens whose lives were "disrupted" by hiring ILLEGALS instead of Citizens.

Again, as I commented on another article, "our" FAMILIES are at the mercy of ILLEGALS and their Anchor Babies being murdered, raped, infected with disease, or robbed. We can see the results of the ILLEGAL invasion in our courts and on our streets every day! But NOT to worry the Chamber of Commerce and ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS will get their "cheap labor" increasing "their privatized" PROFITS, thanks to Bush and the Congressional Leadership!!

Here's the reason for the raid

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs. ... /1006/news

Search warrants detail reasons for Postville raid
By Alicia Ebaugh

The Gazette
Alicia.Ebaugh@GazetteCommunications.com

Here are snippets from the introduction to the search warrant served on the Agriprocessors Inc., meatpacking plant in Postville on Monday:

"Over at least the last two years, (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has received information concerning immigration offenses at and by employees of Agriprocessors, including allegations of harboring illegal aliens... engaging in a pattern or practice of hiring and continuing to employ undocumented aliens... document fraud... misuse of Social Security numbers... and aggravated identity theft. This affidavit sets forth some, but not all, of the information ICE and other law enforcement officers possess concerning potential violations of the above-referenced statutes and potentially other criminal laws, but rather, is a summary of evidence in ICE's possession sufficient to establish probable cause to support this search warrant.

"This criminal search warrant is sought simultaneously... in connection with the issuance of 697 criminal complaints and arrest warrants against persons believed to be current employees of Agriprocessors... Of the approximately 697 charged by complaint, the government currently possesses copies of photo identification for only about 15 individuals.

"There is reason to believe there will be other employees present at Agriprocessors facility whose lawful authority to reside and work in the United States is unknown. Accordingly, in conjunction with the execution of this criminal search warrant, ICE intends to question any alien or person found on the Agriprocessors property believed to be an alien as to his or her right to be or remain in the United States, for purposes of determining whether the alien should be administratively processed for removal.

The following is an abbreviated version of the testimony of 15 former and current employees of the facility included in the search warrant. The sources identities have been withheld in the search warrant:

— Source #1 was a supervisor at the plant between 2005 and 2006. That person supervised citizens of Mexico, Guatemala and Eastern Europe, and estimated that 80 percent of these employees were illegally present in the United States. There was an incident at Agriprocessors where Source #1 discovered active methamphetamine production in the plant. The source partially destroyed the lab, which led to a physical confrontation with the source's immediate supervisor. Source #1 said he or she believes the incident led to their termination. There were also incidents of weapons being carried in Agriprocessors. Source #1 described a conversation with the Agriprocessors Human Resources Manager concerning three Social Security cards from three employees that all contained the same Social Security number, and that the Human Resources Manager laughed when it was brought to her attention. The source also described another conversation with the Human Resources Manager regarding Agriprocessors' employees' taxes and the fact that they were deducted and deposited in bank accounts belonging to an unknown person or people.

— Sources #2, #3 and #4 were arrested after an Aug. 30, 2007, altercation in Postville. All said they were foreign nationals illegally present in the United States, and that they were former Agriprocessors employees. They said they presented fraudulent Social Security cards and Permanent Resident Alien cards to gain employment there. Some of their Employment Eligibility Verification Forms were not properly certified.
— Source #6 was remanded to ICE custody from the Fayette County Sheriff's Office after he or she was arrested for drunken driving. The source said he or she was employed as an undocumented worker on one of Agriprocessors' farms between 2004 and 2006. A fraudulent Social Security card and Permanent Resident Alien card were presented to gain employment there.

— Source #7, a legal Hispanic immigrant, was paid by ICE to look for a job at the plant early this year while pretending to be an illegal immigrant. All of the source's conversations with human resources staff, supervisors and other employees were recorded during the employment process. The first time the source was told that the Social Security number ICE provided for him or her to use did not match his or her name. The next week, the source was provided a different Social Security number to use with the same name and was hired. Source #7 discovered other employees were being paid in cash or with different colored checks than the ones he or she received, possibly by an elementary school worker in Postville identified as the point of contact on letters to Agriprocessors employees noting "misunderstandings" with the employees' Social Security numbers. The source's rent also kept being increased by his or her landlord, and was told by other Hispanics that happened to other workers, as well.

In February, Source #7 told ICE agents he or she observed a Jewish floor supervisor duct-tape the eyes of an undocumented Guatemalan worker shut and hit the Guatemalan with a meat hook, apparently not causing serious injuries. The Guatemalan did not want to report the incident because "it would not do any good and could jeopardize his job." The company fired illegal immigrants on occasion with no explanation.

— On May 4, 2006, sources #8, #9 and #10 were arrested in connection with an investigation of the production of a potential explosive device found in a vehicle registered to a resident of Postville. The materials likely came from the Agriprocessors mechanical shop. Two sources had obtained employment there with fraudulent documents they had purchased, and all were illegal immigrants.

— An Iowa Department of Transportation investigator learned from talking with Des Moines County Treasurer's Office personnel that Source #14 was involved in making applications to title and register cars on behalf of people living in Postville. The source said that, more than 200 times, he or she received application information and money and had the registrations and titles sent to various Burlington/West Burlington addresses. Source #14 then arranged to pick up the documents and sent them to the vehicle owners in Postville.

Other facts found in the search warrant:

— Agriprocessors was notified of more than 1,000 discrepancies between names and Social Security numbers on workers' W-2 forms sent to the IRS between 2002 and 2005.

— In 2005, the Iowa DOT audited a Cedar Rapids car dealership that was selling a number of vehicles to an Agriprocessors supervisor. The manager of the unnamed dealership said the supervisor was a "personal friend of theirs," and that they supplied a large volume of cars to the supervisor for resale to people in the Postville area. That year, more than 50 vehicles were sold in that manner. Sales to Postville residents appeared to represent about 90 percent of the dealership's business. The sales violated Iowa law, which requires all dealers to be licensed.

Employees said that supervisor coerced them and others into to buy vehicles from him or they would be fired or not promoted.

Yeah, what a joke. The operators of this plant absolutely knew they were hiring illegals. There is no way they didn't. If they aren't prosecuted, it will be a travesty. I believe I read where they paid starting workers $5 an hour starting pay, then $6 later if they worked out. And we're supposed to believe that they didn't knowingly hire illegal aliens?!?

<sarcasm> What an absolutely WONDERFUL places to work! </sarcasm>

There's no way that business should be allowed to continue. The business license should be revoked immediately and it's doors bolted shut ASAP.
That's inexcusable.

Agriprocessors was notified of more than 1,000 discrepancies between names and Social Security numbers on workers' W-2 forms sent to the IRS between 2002 and 2005.

I'd love to be a fly-on-the-wall to see and hear how the slavemaster, uh-hum, I mean human resources person would react to the news of ...yet another SSN coming back as a no match...

"Oh, a-n-o-t-h-e-r one...."

Just another company selling out our country for cheap labor.

Originally Posted by 93camaro

Just another company selling out our country for cheap labor.

Addiction to cheap labor causes myopia, tunnel vision and mental disorders. The disease of addiction to cheap labor cannot be cured; it can only be controlled. It is an insidious disease that manifests itself in those that embrace illegal aliens into the work force. Those individuals addicted to cheap labor as a means of their existence must be quarantined; otherwise other weak minded, spineless and other easily infected populace could be infected with this horrible, debilitating disease.

With this information out and in the paper it will be VERY INTERESTING to see if the company is in deep you know what. If this information is correct in the warrant, I don't see how this company can not be brought up on charges. One thing about this scenario is we see how long this process takes but they do it right and get all their ducks in a row before they go forward. I'm expecting more news on this.