Plant founder: I trusted staff to check immigrants
By GRANT SCHULTE • gschulte@dmreg.com • November 4, 2009

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Sioux Falls, S.D. - The man who founded Agriprocessors Inc. told a federal jury Tuesday that he did not understand how illegal immigrants arrested during a massive raid had come to work in the eastern Iowa meat plant.

Abraham "Aaron" Rubashkin, who opened the Postville slaughterhouse in 1987, testified that he had trusted the company's human resources manager, Elizabeth Billmeyer, to weed out undocumented workers.

"I used to trust her. She is a very strong woman," Rubashkin said. "I cannot understand how this happened."



Rubashkin's statements about immigrant workers and the struggle to revive his business after a May 2008 raid came during week four of his son's 91-count financial fraud trial in South Dakota.

Sholom Rubashkin, Aaron Rubashkin's son, faces a maximum 1,280-year prison sentence if convicted of charges that include bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and ignoring an order to pay livestock providers in the 24 hours required by law.

Billmeyer told jurors last week that she repeatedly warned Sholom Rubashkin about the illegal immigrants who worked at the plant, but saw no changes for more than two years. She testified that Agriprocessors received "no match" letters from the federal government that showed hundreds of employees with incorrect Social Security numbers.

She also testified that she complained in an October 2007 e-mail that she had been blamed for problems when the managers do "whatever they want to do with no one above them curtailing their actions."

Aaron Rubashkin also was known to visit the plant frequently, witnesses have testified, although Sholom handled day-to-day operations.

When Aaron Rubashkin entered the courtroom, supporters in the public gallery began whispering among themselves. The Rubashkin family patriarch was sworn in, then smiled and waved at jurors as he stepped to the witness stand.

Aaron Rubashkin spent most of his two hours on the stand describing Agriprocessors' origins and its operations.

Rubashkin, in his thick Russian accent, also detailed his failed attempts to keep the plant operational after the immigration raid, which snagged 389 illegal workers and crippled production.

He said he spent "every penny" he could gather - from his own finances and from others in the Jewish community - trying to recover. The elder Rubashkin told jurors that he mortgaged his home, two buildings that he owned and his store in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Aaron Rubashkin said he managed to gather between $4 million and $5 million, but the effort failed. Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy in November 2008 and emerged under new ownership.

Defense lawyers Tuesday also called Sholom Rubashkin's wife, Leah, as a character witness. Leah Rubashkin described her husband as a "very warm, giving, caring person who's loyal and dedicated. He has a tremendous respect for his parents and his religion."

Leah Rubashkin said her husband worked constantly before the raid, rising as early as 4:30 a.m. for prayers and then heading to Agriprocessors. He returned in the evenings for supper and time with their children. He often spread work papers out over their dining or coffee table in the evening and worked, she said.

Her husband of 28 years "was kind of like a firefighter" as they moved from New York to Atlanta to St. Paul, Minn., to Postville, she said. "Wherever the fire was, that's where he went."

Defense lawyer Guy Cook said his team plans to call six witnesses today. Sholom Rubashkin is expected to testify in his own defense on Thursday, and lawyers will likely present closing arguments on Monday before handing the case to a jury.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/articl ... 0352/1001/