Rubashkin Child Labor Trial: Day 2 Morning Summary

A former Agriprocessors supervisor told Sholom Rubashkin several years ago that children worked up to 100 hours a week at the kosher slaughterhouse, according to witness testimony this morning.

Rubashkin trial: Day 2 of worker testimony – AM summary
Jens Krogstad • Des Moines Register blog posts

12:08 p.m., Waterloo, Ia. — A former Agriprocessors supervisor told Sholom Rubashkin several years ago that children worked up to 100 hours a week at the kosher slaughterhouse, according to witness testimony this morning.

Matt Derrick said when he told the former plant executive this, he smiled and didn’t say anything.

“I brought up that we had children out on the floor working, and how they were exhausted and that we needed a break,” he said. “He didn’t’ seem to want to solve the problem.”

“This is a conversation you say you had with Mr. Rubashkin?” said defense attorney Mark Weinhardt.
“Yes, sir,” Derrick said.

He said in his 17 months at the job he never told anyone because his family received death threats.

That revelation, along with testimony that he and Rubashkin received an e-mail ordering Derrick to obtain fake documents for illegal immigrant worker, led the defense to ask for a mistrial.

The defense said no evidence has been found to support Derrick or Rubashkin received the e-mail.

The motion was denied, but Black Hawk County District Association Judge Nathan Callahan sternly warned the prosecution to focus strictly on the child labor charges, and not to branch off on other issues.

“Doggone it, this trial just lends itself to doing that over and over and over again. And I am not going to let that happen,” he said.

He denied the motion for a mistrial, but said many small infractions can add up to warrant a mistrial.
“I don’t want to get there,” he said.

He said he eventually quit after more than a year on the job because he had concerns about worker safety, illegal immigration and minors working long hours.

“You can’t keep pushing these people, these are kids out here,” he said he told his supervisor. “I’m working 100 hours a week, and these kids are right there with me.”

Derrick said he grew close to many of his workers because they were underage, and he had children of his own. He said he took particular interest in a bright 12-year-old boy.

Derrick said he considered taking the boy into his home so he could obtain citizenship and go to college.
He said most of his 40 employees in the meat cutting department were minors.

“I think I had more children working on the cut-up floor than I had adults,” he said.

Out of the presence of the jury, Derrick said he received written threats in his work locker. They warned him to move his family out of the area and not come back, or suffer serious injury, he said. After he left his job, he said he received phone calls for about a month from a man with a Spanish accent.

When he showed the threatening notes to his supervisor, Hosam Amara, he just crinkled them up and tossed them in the garbage, Derrick said.

He said Amara told him, “’That ain’t the first time anybody’s been threatened here,’ and for me not worry about it.”

Amara has been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges related to helping illegal immigrants at the plant secure fake work papers.

Amara remains at large, and is believed to have fled to Israel.

This morning also saw the first of eight former workers flown in from Guatemala to testify for the prosecution.

The attorney general’s office said it is expected to cost the state as much as $35,000. The witnesses are authorized to remain in the country for 90 days.

Alvaro David Ajin Garcia said he started skinning chicken legs at age 16.

Though he wore safety equipment, he said he often mixed a white and green powdered chemical that smelled like bleach into barrels of water.

The vapors caused him to step away because they burned his lungs. When he told supervisors of the pain, he said they did nothing.

He said he sometimes saw Sholom Rubashkin walk through his department. On cross-examination, he said Rubashkin never talked to him or walked very near him. Sometimes he didn’t see Rubashkin for months, he said.

Ajin Garcia said he finished sixth grade in Guatemala but cannot read Spanish. His family owed about $8,500 to a coyote when he started working at Agriprocessors in 2006.

He said he used fake work documents and lied about his age to obtain work.

11:25 a.m., Waterloo, Ia. — Alvaro David Ajin Garcia said he started skinning chicken legs at age 16.

Though he wore safety equipment, he said he often mixed a white and green powdered chemical that smelled like bleach into barrels of water.

The vapors caused him to step away because they burned his lungs. When he told supervisors of the pain, he said they did nothing.

He said he sometimes saw Sholom Rubashkin walk through his department. On cross-examination, he said Rubashkin never talked to him or walked very near him. Sometimes he didn’t see Rubashkin for months, he said.

Ajin Garcia said he finished sixth grade in Guatemala but cannot read Spanish. His family owed about $8,500 to a coyote when he started working at Agriprocessors in 2006.

He said he used fake work documents and lied about his age to obtain work.

Defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown noted he is about 5-feet tall. He held up a picture taken of Ajin Garcia on the day of the raid, when he had just turned 18. He asked Ajin Garcia if he looked the same as he did before he turned 18. The former worker said, ‘yes.’

The defense has suggested to several former underage workers that it could be difficult for Americans to determine the age of young Guatemalans.

Ajin Garcia is the first of eight former workers flown in from Guatemala to testify for the prosecution. The attorney general’s office said it is expected to cost the state as much as $35,000. He is authorized to remain in the country for 90 days.

Ajin Garcia said the state paid his airfare, money to stay with family in Iowa, and provides $20 per day for food. He said he must show receipts for food.

Ajin Garcia said he has been in Waterloo for three weeks. About a month ago, a state investigator arrived at his small village, which is three hours from the nearest airport.

He said he accompanied the man because “they were honest people and you would feel they were being honest,” he said through an interpreter.

They then flew to Chicago, and rode a bus to Waterloo.

10:05 a.m., Waterloo, Ia. — The defense moved for a mistrial after Matt Derrick began to tell the jury that he did not tell anyone about underage workers at the plant because he received death threats on the job.

Black Hawk County District Associate Judge Nathan Callahan sternly warned the prosecution to focus strictly on the child labor charges, and not branch off to other issues.

“Doggone it, this trial just lends itself to doing that over and over and over again. And I am not going to let that happen,” he said.

He denied the motion for a mistrial, but said many small infractions can add up to warrant a mistrial.
“I don’t want to get there,” he said.

Defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown argued the prosecution drew out information from Derrick about an e-mail sent to Sholom Rubashkin in which Derrick said he was asked to obtain false documents for his workers.
Brown also argued the alleged death threat unfairly paints Rubashkin and Agriprocessors with a broad brush as a corrupt criminal organization.

“This was intentionally solicited by the state prosecutor. He wanted the threat to come out,” he said.
Out of the presence of the jury, Derrick said he received written threats in his work locker. They warned him to move his family out of the area and not come back, or suffer serious injury, he said. After he left his job, he said he received phone calls for about a month from a man with a Spanish accent.

When he showed the threatening notes to his supervisor, Hosam Amara, he just crinkled them up and tossed them in the garbage, Derrick said.

He said Amara told him, “’That ain’t the first time anybody’s been threatened here,’ and for me not worry about it.”

Amara has been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges related to helping illegal immigrants at the plant secure fake work papers.

Amara remains at large, and is believed to have fled to Israel.

9:51 a.m., Waterloo, Ia. — Agriprocessors supervisor Matt Derrick said he had a conversation with Sholom Rubashkin in which he told the former plant executive there were children working at the plant.
Rubashkin just smiled and didn’t say anything, he said.

“I brought up that we had children out on the floor working, and how they were exhausted and that we needed a break,” he said. “He didn’t’ seem to want to solve the problem.”

“This is a conversation you say you had with Mr. Rubashkin?” said defense attorney Mark Weinhardt.
“Yes, sir,” Derrick said.

He said on his 17 months on the job he never told anyone because his family received death threats.
He said he also received an e-mail that told him to take his employees to go to Sabor Latino, a Mexican restaurant in Postville, to obtain fake identification for them. The e-mail was also sent to Sholom Rubashkin, he said.

Derrick said he grew close to many of his workers because they were underage, and he had children of his own. He said he took particular interest in a bright 12-year-old boy.

Derrick said he considered taking into his home so he could obtain citizenship and go to college.
He said most of his 40 employees  in the meat cutting department were minor.

“I think I had more children working on the cut-up floor than I had adults,” he said.

He said he eventually quit after more than a year on the job because he had concerns about worker safety, illegal immigration and minors working long hours.

“You can’t keep pushing these people, these are kids out here,” he said he told his supervisors. “I’m working 100 hours a week, and these kids are right there with me.”

On cross-examination, Derrick acknowledged he made sure his workers were adequately trained and received sufficient safety equipment.

When he first arrived on the job in 2006, however, he said his workers didn’t have sufficient safety equipment, such as hard hats, protective hand gear and ear plugs.

9:06 a.m. Waterloo, Ia. — Black Hawk County District Associate Judge Nathan Callahan just entered the courtroom. There are significantly fewer media and Rubashkin supporters to begin the day.

Matt Derrick,  a former Agriprocessors supervisor, will be the the first witness for the prosecution.