Letter from Miami: Prosecutor's Official Story Does Not Tell The Truth About Agriprocessors

Ignorance of history is no excuse. Agriprocessors (1987-2008) lifted Postville from the farm crisis, doubled its population and turned it into a vibrant multicultural community, hailed as a model of ethnic integration for the future of rural America.

Rose's 'official story' does not set record straight

ERIK CAMAYD-FREIXAS • Des Moines Register

Ignorance of history is no excuse. Agriprocessors (1987-2008) lifted Postville from the farm crisis, doubled its population and turned it into a vibrant multicultural community, hailed as a model of ethnic integration for the future of rural America.

But Agriprocessors was not Sholom Rubashkin. The muscle, the human fuel, driving the meatpacking industry as a whole was supplied by undocumented migrant labor: Eastern European, then Mexican, and lately Guatemalan. This trend has been common knowledge for two decades.

To claim, as U.S. Attorney Stephanie Rose does in her June 23 guest essay ("Setting the Record Straight on the Postville Prosecution"), that Postville was "occupied by residents who benefited from, and feared the discovery of, hundreds of illegal workers at Agriprocessors" is not only disingenuous; it is a slur on the welcoming 150-year-old community of Lutherans and Catholics that she helped devastate - all for the trophy conviction of Sholom Rubashkin.

Yet six former attorney generals, aware of the Northern District of Iowa's extremism, signed a pre-sentencing letter warning that Rubashkin's white-collar crime conviction was never worth as much.

As refrigeration pushed labor-intensive meatpacking away from big cities and closer to livestock, the Midwest experienced an increasing rural flight - high school graduates seeking urban opportunities and leaving an aging population and severe labor shortages behind. The industry grew dependent on migrant labor, which in turn allowed young Iowans to opt for an urban education, instead of the ailing family farm.

After the raid, Agriprocessors never found enough workers to operate at more than 35 percent capacity. Losses mounted, and Rubashkin's bank deals went sour with the bankruptcy caused by the raid. This led to a loss of business of $200 million per year in a 150-mile radius, entailing the loss of 4,000 American jobs that depended on Postville's 700 undocumented workers.

Immigration authorities have been raiding meatpacking plants since the 1990s. Nearby Marshalltown was raided in 1996 and 2006. What sets Postville apart, beside being 10 times smaller and its raid twice as large, is that it was followed by the only mass prosecution in American history, the kind that should never be repeated in a democracy.

As an impartial court expert [i.e., translator] serving in the Waterloo proceedings, May 13-22, 2008, I witnessed how the 306 meatpackers were denied rights guaranteed to all defendants by the Constitution. New York City chief prosecutor Robert Morgenthau called such abuses a "national disgrace" and "a stain on our reputation." Federal prosecutors complained they pursued this noble profession to prosecute real criminals, not common workers.

Guilty pleas were coerced from Guatemalan paupers begging to be deported so they could feed their families. Such indiscriminate use of identity theft charges, forcing migrants to plea to lesser crimes, was slammed unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court. With the fraud charges forced on the workers, Rose's office poisoned its own witnesses. The only reason the workers were herded into prison for five months, at a cost to taxpayers of $6 million, was to keep 40 material witnesses against Rubashkin on alien harboring charges that were later dismissed without trial. These federal witnesses were dumped on the community with no provisions for their keep. This was a sloppy case that exceeded the resources of Iowa's Northern District.

Rose claims the feds rescued exploited workers by prosecuting those who "preyed upon" them. But Agriprocessors, while paying low, non-union wages and practicing all forms of wage theft, did not force workers into a job they needed to support their families, treating them infinitely better than the feds.

In October 2008, days before their deportation, I interviewed 94 Postville workers in federal prison and obtained affidavits of abuses at Waterloo, including keeping detainees in five-point shackles for up to 14 hours, forcing them to eat in shackles, and threatening them with more time if they didn't sign away rights and pleas. When I reminded them of the TVs and table games available at their Waterloo prison camp, they laughed at me, saying "those were for the guards." Immigration Subcommittee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) wrote on Dec. 10, 2008, to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff demanding an investigation into "disturbing allegations of verbal, physical, and mental abuse of workers" at the National Cattle Congress.

No investigation was ever conducted, and Rose's official story from behind the iron curtain just doesn't cut it. The final word on Postville will not be written for a long time yet.

ERIK CAMAYD-FREIXAS is a professor of Hispanic studies at Florida International University.

Camayd-Freixas brushes over Agriprocessors' abuses this way:

But Agriprocessors, while paying low, non-union wages and practicing all forms of wage theft, did not force workers into a job they needed to support their families, treating them infinitely better than the feds.

Of course, Agriprocessors was able to practice "all forms of wage theft" because these workers were illegal aliens and, as such, had no real recourse to stop Rubashkin.

The government's job is to stop crime.

In this case, there were three groups of criminals:

1. The Rubashkin family and their senior managers who knowingly employed illegal aliens and exploited them, obstructed justice, committed bank fraud, bribed a public official, and committed other crimes.

2. The illegal aliens themselves who broke US law in order to enter the country and work illegally here.

3. The residents and businesses of Postville and the surrounding area who were complicit  with (and to varying extents, profited from) the crimes of both group 1 and group 2.

The government chose to do two things:

1. Fully prosecute group 2, including prison sentences and deportation.

2. Prosecute Sholom Rubashkin and several top Agriprocessors managers.

The government has, so far, chosen not to pursue anyone from group 3.

The Agriprocessors raid was the biggest not due to government excess, as Camayd-Freixas disingenuously implies. It was the biggest because Agriprocessors had the largest number of illegal aliens working in one location, and those illegal aliens made up approximately 75% of Agriprocessors workforce.

The extremely high percentage of illegal workers allowed Rubashkin to cut his payroll costs dramatically, both because he was able to pay these workers far less than legal workers, and because he was able to steal their overtime pay, short their checks, and abuse them at will. Illegal aliens rarely call the police – especially in a company town where the police are controlled by a mayor who is controlled by the town's primary employer. And they rarely report wage theft and related crimes – especially when they have been threatened that doing so will cause their employer to turn them over to ICE – immigration – and this is exactly what Sholom Rubashkin reportedly did.

A proof of how drastically Agriprocessors underpaid its illegal workers can be seen in its failed attempts to hire legal workers after the raid. As Camayd-Freixas himself notes:

After the raid, Agriprocessors never found enough workers to operate at more than 35 percent capacity.

That failure to find legal workers took place even though Agriprocessors raised its wages by approximately 33%. Even then Agriprocessors was paying far less than the area's industry standard wage.

Agriprocessors business model was unsustainable using legal labor, and it was unsustainable paying workers $11 to $12 dollars per hour, the standard starting wage in the meatpacking industry in the region.

The only way the Agriprocessors could survive was paying illegal workers approximate $6 per hour, shorting their checks and cheating them out of their overtime pay.

The raid way May 12, 2008. In November 2008, Agriprocessors declared bankruptcy.

When it did the banks who had lent Agriprocessors $35 million found out that Sholom Rubashkin had been lying about the existence of the loan's collateral for years, and that there was far less collateral available than the banks thought. They lost almost $27 million, and Sholom Rubashkin was convicted of bank fraud, money laundering (used to enable that bank fraud), wire fraud, and related charges.

Camayd-Freixas leaves out the details because the details greatly weaken his case, and he disingenuously reports the bankruptcy this way:

Losses mounted, and Rubashkin's bank deals went sour with the bankruptcy caused by the raid.

Another example of Camayd-Freixas's omission of inconvenient facts is the way he describes Postville:

Agriprocessors (1987-2008) lifted Postville from the farm crisis, doubled its population and turned it into a vibrant multicultural community, hailed as a model of ethnic integration for the future of rural America.

By 2005, Postville came to be regarded as a "model of ethnic integration," largely because locals had grown accustomed to that integration after years of fighting it.

For the first 15 years of Agriprocessors existence, the town was wracked with ethnic and class tension, and the town itself fought Agriprocessors over many issues. A lot of this tension is documented in Stephen Bloom's well-reviewed 2000 book, aptly titled, "Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America."

But Camayd-Freixas ignores this history even though he opens his essay by stating "ignorance of history is no excuse." Apparently Camayd-Freixas believes ignorance of history is an excuse, but only for himself.

Camayd-Freixas clearly dislikes Stephanie Rose, and his article blames her for what he considers to be the bad of the Agriprocessors raid and its aftermath, especially the plea deals negotiated at the Waterloo Cattle Congress, the holding center used after the raid to detain almost 400 illegal workers.

But a majority of the defense attorneys who represented the illegal alien workers during those plea negotiations praised Rose for bending over backward to ensure the rights of these defendants were not violated, and for making the best out of a bad situation that was not of her making.

Rose was not the US Attorney at the time of the raid or during the indictments of Sholom Rubashkin.

She was an Assistant US Attorney who reportedly fought against many of the shortcuts the government took in prosecuting those illegal alien workers.

Camayd-Freixas knows this because these defense attorneys wrote a public letter praising Rose during her confirmation process.

But Camayd-Freixas cannot accept a narrative that proves him wrong, or a narrative that calls into question his simplistic black and white framing of events. In his world, all the prosecutors and law enforcement are bad, the illegal alien workers are innocent, and Rubashkin, his family and his top managers are mere distractions from his tale.

Camayd-Freixas has a certain type of ego, one that supersedes logic, truth and all evidence that ego does not like.

You can get a taste of this ego by looking at how he describes his role in the raid:

[A]n impartial court expert serving in the Waterloo proceedings…

Camayd-Freixas was a translator. From his self-description, you might think he was a rocket scientist.

Camayd-Freixas's puffery aside, there is much wrong with our immigration system that needs to be fixed.

President Obama – who was elected after the raid – has moved away from George Bush's emphasis on prosecuting illegal alien workers. Instead, Obama is focusing on prosecution the employers who hire and often exploit them.

Until we fix our immigration system, there will always be tension over where our immigration enforcement focus should be put.

That debate, however, does not excuse the crimes committed by all involved. And that is a lesson Camayd-Freixas has not learned.

Comments

[sage]

Just wondering.

There's still no info on the BOP Inmate-Finder for SMR.

Anyone know what his current status is or when/where he will end up?

[maalox]

Shmarya is reported in the Jerusalem Post (June 25 p15) as saying that he actually really likes Rubashkin and that he had several Shabbos meals with him in the 80s, but that he thought already then that Rubashkin was a "sociopath".

Shmarya was quoted as saying that his sentence should've been 3 years in a medical institution, not jail.

In what way did Rubashkin's behavior at the shabbos table categorize him as a sociopath? Could he handle his kiddush wine?

[Getthefactsman]

Article today in Des Moines Register - authored by Mr Aaron Goldsmith

Guest column: Don't swallow prosecutor's sanitized version of events

AARON GOLDSMITH is a former Postville City Council member. Contact: aaronbgoldsmith@gmail.com. • July 1, 2010

I am a former city council member from Postville. I have lived and operated my company here for more than 12 years. The May 2008 raid on Agriprocessors by Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be a day never forgotten by those who live here. The trauma and excessive manner ultimately made the benefit of the raid questionable. University of Northern Iowa professors Mark Grey and Michelle Devlin and I were so deeply moved that we choose to co-author "Postville U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America." We tried to eliminate the spin that has clouded a truthful view of Postville and its significant events.

Reviewing the documents that authorized the raid, you can see specific references anticipating gun running and meth labs. So it is no surprise the enforcement was a show of brute force. The black military helicopter was not the type you see used by civilians, and it repeatedly and continually buzzed over our houses in a menacing fashion. Further, the federal government itself questioned the value of the Postville approach and has ceased these aggressive raids.

After I read Stephanie Rose's June 23 guest essay, "Setting the Record Straight on the Postville Prosecution," I was surprised to see how she tried to sanitize the raid. It's as if the 600 officers were all walking around with "smiley face jerseys," distributing cookies and Kool-Aid. I give her an "A" for creative writing.

My essay does not reflect my feelings about immigration policy. These comments are to advise those who did not personally experience this raid, and to underscore that this was a showcase for "Government Gone Wild."

Shortly after the raid, CNN quoted me as follows, "They (the feds) took a problem that needed a 22-caliber bullet and they dropped a nuclear bomb on us."

The prosecutors have done it again by successfully sentencing a 51-year-old man to 27 years in jail for a bizarre prosecution of bank fraud. The first raid devastated northeast Iowa, and this second action devastated our perception of equal justice for all. Rose's press release continues to frame Sholom Rubashkin in the worst light so that these highly questionable prosecutorial tactics seem reasonable.

The prosecutor's office felt compelled to write this piece because it must be feeling the heat. If justice was truly served then Rose and her colleagues would not need this ""dog and pony" show."

[Shmarya]

Goldsmith is a Lubavitcher hasid. He served as a spokesperson of sorts for Rubashkin and Agriprocessors, and he is a close friend of Sholom Rubashkin.

Somehow you forgot to mention this.

[Getthefactsman]

Yes I know him personally - Aaron is a very good man.

[Shmarya]

Most of what Goldsmith writes is pure BS, and in my post you can see refutations that apply as much to Goldsmith as they do to Camayd-Freixas.

Goldsmith mentions something purely disingenuous that isn't covered above:

Reviewing the documents that authorized the raid, you can see specific references anticipating gun running and meth labs. So it is no surprise the enforcement was a show of brute force. The black military helicopter was not the type you see used by civilians, and it repeatedly and continually buzzed over our houses in a menacing fashion. Further, the federal government itself questioned the value of the Postville approach and has ceased these aggressive raids. Yes, there was a one reference to a meth lab in those dozens of pages.

But there were many more references to hundreds of undocumented workers.

Any law enforcement officer will tell you that attempting to arrest approximately 700 of people at one time requires massive force, even if it is presumed that these people being arrested are all non-violent.

And any helicopter pilot will tell you his chopper makes a lot of noise, and that circling a plant in a small town will bring his chopper over residential neighborhoods at close range.

What Goldsmith disingenuously paints as excessive force used to single out Agriprocessors and Rubashkin is in reality the required amount of force needed to do the raid. There was nothing excessive about it.

As for the meth lab, it was not found. Perhaps it existed but was dismantled in anticipation of the raid. Or perhaps it never existed.

But what did exist was almost 700 illegal alien workers making up about 75% of Agriprocessors's workforce.

The bulk of the claims in those government papers were proved true.

But Goldsmith cannot admit this, because admitting this destroys most of his case against the government.

[Shmarya]

Yes I know him personally - Aaron is a very good man.

And therefore you omitted his affiliation with Rubashkin and Chabad, and allowed his lies to stand unchallenged.

And that says a lot about your character.

[Getthefactsman]

And yours as well as your level of intelligence

Thanks Shmarya

[Shmarya]

The points – which you miss – is that Goldsmith is far from impartial and he played fast and loose with the facts to make his point.

You can disagree with the raid but still tell the truth, and you can disagree with Rubashkin's sentence but still tell the truth.

Think about that.

[Shmarya]

Unless you mean not mentioning Goldsmith's affiliation with Chabad and Rubashkin was an oversight, in which case I apologize for my harshness.

[seymour]

to Getthefactsman,

Shmarya is correct that Goldsmith should have mention his relationship with SMR that is slandered practice in journalism

[Hometown Postville]

Very well said Shmarya.

[sage]

This person made nefarious inquiries as to my identity and also accosted Jeff Abbas and accused him of being me.

Not someone we can trust as being impartial in the matter of SMR's crimes.

[Mr. Apikoros]

So let me get this straight, Shmarya. Are you justifying the actions of the government in locking up the illegals and giving them drumhead trials?

Do the actions of Agriprocessors justify bad behavior by the Feds?

[FormerPostvillian]

Here is my favorite Goldsmith moment:

"Shortly after the raid, CNN quoted me as follows, "They (the feds) took a problem that needed a 22-caliber bullet and they dropped a nuclear bomb on us."

He makes sure everyone knows he was interviewed on CNN, by quoting himself being quoted on CNN.

Aaron is a very nice, well meaning, kind hearted man; but he does have his behavior quirks very similiar to Sholoms!

There is an old saying where I come from about birds of a feather....

[harold]

Linda Reade update

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal appeals court Wednesday ordered damages to be increased for two Iowa women who were strip-searched after being arrested for protesting at a rally for President George Bush in 2004.

Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson were arrested during the event in Cedar Rapids and taken to the Linn County jail where they were strip-searched and subjected to body cavity searches, court records show.

They filed lawsuits against the female jailer who conducted the searches, claiming their constitutional rights had been violated. The case went to trial and a jury awarded them $750,000 in damages — $500,000 for Nelson and $250,000 for McCabe.

U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade threw out the damages, ruling they were excessive. Reade offered the women a combined $75,000 but they rejected the offer and opted for a second trial instead.

...

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled the amount offered by Reade was miscalculated and ordered the case back to federal district court to increase the damages or for a third trial.

In its ruling, the court said the judge used a comparison of judgments in similar cases to reach the $75,000 amount but failed to take into account the effect of inflation.

The court said the judge relied on a 1978 case in reaching the amount that was offered.

“An award of $75,000 in 1978 dollars amounts to significantly more when adjusted for inflation to 2004 dollars,” the court said.

That mistake “amounts to an abuse of discretion, and require us to remand this case to calculate the amount ... for both women,” the court said.

[concerned citizen]

I've heard that Leah Rubashkin and family have left town and that Getzel and family are living in daddys' house. Anybody know anything about that?

[sage]

Thanks for the news, CC.

Any news or rumors as to where she moved to or where SMR is.

Still no news from the BOP.

[Successful Messiah]

"And therefore you omitted his affiliation with Rubashkin and Chabad, and allowed his lies to stand unchallenged."

what he did is no worse than your consistent failure to preface every post about Rubashkin with a notice of your personal animosity to chabad and Rubashkin.

[harold]

I've heard that Leah Rubashkin and family have left town and that Getzel and family are living in daddys' house. Anybody know anything about that?

Pictures and videos would be a big plus - we live such empty lives and need to know.

Maybe we can set up something on Twitter to follow Rubashkins and his familys movements.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Harold, you can be sure the FBI is following every move by your beloved Rubashkins, especially if any mail from a bank in Switzerland arrives.

[effie]

Sage: I don't know if they have made a final determination as to where they are sending him yet. Also, for security reasons, they don't announce in advance when and where they are transferring inmates.

[harold]

Harold, you can be sure the FBI is following every move by your beloved Rubashkins

I am sure that they are but here at FailedMessiah we are interested in the mundane, like the whereabouts of his wife, who is living in "daddy's" house, what size picture of the Rebbe he keeps in his cell or if he is even able to put up a picture.

[harold]

Harold, you can be sure the FBI is following every move by your beloved Rubashkins

I am sure that they are but here at FailedMessiah we are interested in the mundane, like the whereabouts of his wife, who is living in "daddy's" house, what size picture of the Rebbe he keeps in his cell or if he is even able to put up a picture.

[harold]

Sorry about the double post. I did not see it come up so I thought it got lost on the web and reposted it.

[effie]

I'm sure the legal phrase "abuse of discretion" sounds nasty to people like harold. However, if he had actually read the decision he would know that: "[A] district court by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law." Here the error was failure to adjust for inflation. If that is the worse the SMR supporters can find against Judge Reade, they're in big trouble.

[libby in the hood]

I googled Erik Camayd-Freixas. He did a video interview for the NY Times regarding what he witnessed and interpreted. It is disgusting what the government did to illiterate mayan peasants from the backwaters of Guatemala. But after all, we do have Gitmo and torture as legacies of our government. Now I feel even more contempt for Shaw Wow masquerading as a religious man and taking advantage of the weak and desperate.

[Cheskel]

""Goldsmith is a Lubavitcher hasid. He served as a spokesperson of sorts for Rubashkin and Agriprocessors, and he is a close friend of Sholom Rubashkin.Somehow you forgot to mention this.""

Goldsmith is a Lubuab, Rubashkins lawyers obviously are pro,the entire orthodox Jewry is pro because a fellow Jew is in trouble and five former AG wrote letters because they too felt a life sentence is harsh in this case.

Your comments on Avi Moskowitz interview, if i hadn't listened to it i would of thought he is of the same opinion as you. but far from it.you just picked out what you liked.

So whenever you can find a negative article against Rubashkin,that's a win win. A pro article,you will take apart or as you did with A.Moskowitz.

That's probably the reason you banned Dr. Moe because he is the only one who know how to squash all your arguments eloquently.

Bottom line, everyone has an agenda.

Please tell us what drives your negativity to Rubashkin. The truth? come on

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

I'm amazed that supporters still bring up that meth lab issue.

The affadavit for the search warrant was posted here in three parts:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/05/rubashkin-searc.html

Page 7 of the first PDF file discusses an interview ICE agents had with "Source #1". Source #1 (a supervisor) worked at Agriprocessors from 2005 until 2006. Source #1 is the only person listed in the affadavit who reported a meth lab. Source #1 also reported s/he partially destroyed the meth lab.

If you count from January 2007 to April 2008, that is a period of 16 months, the minimum possible elapsed time between this report of a partially destroyed meth lab and the raid. Just one more example of twisting the facts.

[Dave]

Mr. Erik Camayd-Freixas does have one up on Scott big time. He was eyewitness to the abuse done by the federal government and Scott can only rely on reports he has read. This man was brought in to interpret and qualifies to understand the statments said by the illegals first hand, while Scott only understands English.

[harold]

. If that is the worse the SMR supporters can find against Judge Reade, they're in big trouble.

This was not done to compare to SMR, just a heads up on this judge and her decisions. I have an active Google News alert on her and will post from stories that are of interest. Since I don't like the lady I will at my discretion highlight items of interest.

I did find it amusing that in her careful research she failed to realize that she was looking at an award given in 1978, some 30 years ago, and still felt that it is an applicable amount today.

[effie]

harold: If not for being a SMR lapdog, you would have never heard of Judge Reade and would have never posted your comment on her. What you fail to understand is that 75k is more than enough of an award. You whine about people being mundane when you it is you who is the king of mundaneness.

[effie]

Dave: Oh, puleez! He's not qualified to determine if any abuse occurred. His only qualification is to interpret for Spanish speaking defendants.

[effie]

"I'm amazed that supporters still bring up that meth lab issue."

Are you kidding me? When do they not repeatedly bring up failed arguments and false allegations? It's about time for them to start the 'Reade signed the warrants' nonsense again.

SMR supporters motto: "There is no lie -- large or small, that we can't repeat."

[Yisroel Pensack]

Shmarya is reported in the Jerusalem Post (June 25 p15) as saying that he actually really likes Rubashkin and that he had several Shabbos meals with him in the 80s, but that he thought already then that Rubashkin was a "sociopath".

Shmarya was quoted as saying that his sentence should've been 3 years in a medical institution, not jail.

In what way did Rubashkin's behavior at the shabbos table categorize him as a sociopath? Could he handle his kiddush wine?

Posted by: maalox | July 01, 2010 at 07:48 AM

[Yisroel Pensack]

At 1:45 PM, I wanted to hit "Preview" not "Post" before commenting on "Posted by: maalox | July 01, 2010 at 07:48 AM".

Here's my response to "maalox": The article by Edwin Black in the JPost dated online as 06/24/2010 says, and I quote:

Perhaps no critic of Rubashkin has been more vituperative than Scott Rosenberg, a former Chabad member in Minneapolis, who operates the blog FailedMessiah.com.

This blog has covered every development in the case in depth, and is credited by some with “keeping the case alive.” Rosenberg is a former family friend of the Rubashkins who several times ate at their dinner table on the Sabbath. Rosenberg called Rubashkin a “sociopath,” yet added, “I don’t hate him, I actually like him. I don’t want his wife and kids to suffer for 20 years, God forbid, while he sits in jail. But how to protect society?” Asked months ago what sentence he himself would assess if it were in his power, Rosenberg replied, “If I had the power, from my heart I would sentence him to three years at a medical facility and a long term of close supervision after that. From my head, I would say 15 years.”

Yisroel here: Only a liar could write, as "maalox" did above, simply that "Shmarya was quoted as saying that his [Rubashkin's] sentence should've been 3 years in a medical institution, not jail."

[Yisroel Pensack]

Here's the link to the JPost article "maalox" referred to and I quoted from
http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=179467

[Yisroel Pensack]

"maalox" also wrote above:
Shmarya is reported in the Jerusalem Post (June 25 p15) as saying that he actually really likes Rubashkin and that he had several Shabbos meals with him in the 80s, but that he thought already then that Rubashkin was a "sociopath".

But what the article by Black in the JPost actually says is:

Rosenberg is a former family friend of the Rubashkins who several times ate at their dinner table on the Sabbath. Rosenberg called Rubashkin a “sociopath,” yet added, “I don’t hate him, I actually like him. I don’t want his wife and kids to suffer for 20 years, God forbid, while he sits in jail. But how to protect society?”

The JPost article does not say "in the 80s" or that Shmarya "thought already then that Rubashkin was a 'sociopath'."

[libby in the hood]

Dave: Oh, puleez! He's not qualified to determine if any abuse occurred. His only qualification is to interpret for Spanish speaking defendants.

Posted by: effie | July 01, 2010 at 01:21 PM

Effie: I admire you because you are so articulate and intelligent. Is what Camayd-Freixas witnessed usual in these cases? Does the government come at these people (the undocumented) with such force?

[seymour]

Harold, you can be sure the FBI is following every move by your beloved Rubashkins

I am sure that they are but here at FailedMessiah we are interested in the mundane, like the whereabouts of his wife, who is living in "daddy's" house, what size picture of the Rebbe he keeps in his cell or if he is even able to put up a picture.

Posted by: harold | July 01, 2010 at 12:05 PM

I hope not we do not want to become like tmz.

[daren]

he abused those poor animalsso he will be abused in jail that dirty jew, the rich cant get away with everything

[maalox]

What evidence is there that Shmarya actually likes Rubashkin, like he says he does? Everything on this site points to the contrary.

If this definition of a sociopath is correct http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociopath
then I don't see Rubashkin as being particularly worse than any other Lubavitcher!

[concerned citizen]

A question for anyone who might know, and this is a bit off topic, Where is Mr. Gabay, the landlord. I realize he lost everything, but just curious.

[former charedi]

Typical Shmarya spin.

People whose jobs are not on the line are coming out and testifying to the public that the raid was an outlandish act. The prosecutors, who need spin, are loudly claiming that they did the right thing.

Those who are testifying that the raid was wrong have very little to gain (ego fulfillment!) and much to lose (revenge by powerful government officials). Those who work for the government have everything to gain by vindicating themselves and everything to lose by telling it like it was.

The veiled threat that "The government has, so far, chosen not to pursue anyone from group 3" means that those who did business with Rubashkin and oppose the raid better keep their mouths shut.

Shmarya's spin is to say that the inability to get workers even at a 33% increase is proof that the workers are exploited. Of course, a rational person would say that since the government ruined so many of their lives, or maybe the lives of their friends, that they want to stay as far as possible from the source of possible future pain...

I can't know what really happened and, despite his protestations otherwise, neither can Shmarya. He adds together facts and supposition and claims they are proof of his theories. The way he proves his points are kind of hard to take.

I welcome all articles and statements by witnesses concerning this subject. Maybe the truth will come out before Michael Moore produces a movie that distorts what few facts we have.

[Mr. Apikoros]

I am sympathetic to Camayd-Freixas.

He makes the distinction between what the Feds did to the workers, which was unconscionable, and with what Rubashkin did, which was equally unconscionable. But he has a solid point: Rubashkin, no matter how evil a man he is, didn't lock these illegals up on trumped-up charges. And, of course, the Supreme Court agreed: It's not very common that a decision is unanimous; with both Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the same side. But that's what happened here.

Remember, up until the raid was conducted, the Feds were looking the other way at the illegals in Postville. It was, ironically, the expose in the Forward and the New York Times which prodded the government to act. Bush originally had a reasonable immigration policy with respect to illegals, but he needed to shore up his base with the xenophobes such as Tom Tancredo; hence the raid and the horrible treatment of the illegals.

One can condemn in the strongest terms the actions of the INS and Prosecutor Rose without being supportive to Rubashkin in the slightest. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Thus, this is yet another case of a self-important blogger criticizing a journalist for doing a good job. And it takes a guy who's fluent in Spanish to get the whole story.

[Shmarya]

Your comments on Avi Moskowitz interview, if i hadn't listened to it i would of thought he is of the same opinion as you. but far from it.you just picked out what you liked.

Please.

He repeated several times in a very strong way that Sholom Rubashkin is no hero and no martyr – he is a criminal justly convicted.

He explained the sentencing guidelines and said the judge followed those guidelines and gave a sentence at the low end of those guidelines.

He said the prosecution was not overzealous, that crimes were committed and like any criminal investigation, as it proceeds often more crimes are uncovered.

He called the sentencing guidelines draconian and said he wished the judge would have departed from them and sentenced Rubashkin to a much smaller sentence.

Every one of those things are things I've written, and things I've been quoted saying.

The only liar here, Cheskel, is you.

[Shmarya]

Typical Shmarya spin… [etc., ad nauseam]

Former Charedi, you really do not know what you're talking about.

The issue that bothered Camayd-Freixas most is called fast tracking. You'd know that if you followed the links in my post.

What Camayd-Freixas knows – but what he will not admit because it weakens his infantile argument – is that Stephanie Rose argued against using fast tracking, and wile at the cattle congress went way out of her way to accommodate the illegal workers.

You'd know that if you actually read the post you criticize.

Remember, up until the raid was conducted, the Feds were looking the other way at the illegals in Postville. It was, ironically, the expose in the Forward and the New York Times which prodded the government to act.

Please.

Rubashkin received HUNDREDS of no match letters from the feds in the year leading up to the raid. He did not act on them.

No match letters mean those workers used fake IDs and fraudulent documents to get hired.

Not responding to those letters and doing NOTHING to remedy the situation is what caused the raid.

Thus, this is yet another case of a self-important blogger criticizing a journalist for doing a good job. And it takes a guy who's fluent in Spanish to get the whole story.

1. The guy is NOT a journalist.

2. For whatever reasons, the guy is dishonest.

3. I may be "self-important" but at least I know the facts and honestly report them, and that's a far better job than either Camayd-Freixas or you have done.

[friend]

The current US laws on immigration violate basic human rights, hurt our economy, maintain a booming trade in fake ids, create a slave like caste of people that can be abused by employers etc.
All of the above so the politicians can please
some of their redneck voter base who don't understand economics and think that restricting the cross border flow of labor is a good thing.
As the sages say "it's not the mouse that steals, but rather the hole in the wall that does" the government that created and maintains this disgusting situation is the biggest criminal of all. It's members at all levels should refuse to participate in the corrupt system that hurts our economy and perpetuates the abuse of innocent human beings whose "crime" if you think about it is lesser than a parking violation or crossing an empty road on a red light.

[A E ANDERSON]

I think Camayd-Freixas' perspective is an invaluable addition to the Postville-Rubashkin Affair, whose complexity already defies simple, monocausal explanations.

Like Camayd-Freixas, I am far less interested in the role played by Mr. Rubashkin in this affair, because I believe that most of the ills identified by the feds in targeting him were systemic ills that affected nearly all similarly situated businesses, ills that were brought on by federal neglect and incompetence over decades, and ills that should have been addressed calmly, without hysterics, by professional regulators not men-in-black.

ICE was well aware that the national workforce was already to a significant degree tainted and infected by a high percentage of illegal workers in certain industries. By 2007, it was simply not possible to find sufficient numbers of legal workers willing to perform at depressed prevailing wages. This dynamic had applied to agricultural "stoop-labour" for many decades already, incidentally (for which federal law provides a huge escape value in the form of migrant, seasonal labour).

On top of this, we have the compounded issue of why the federal government, at a time of economic crisis, began now working against American industry, rather than promoting it. It is sad to see wage tables depressed so that native-born Americans won't take certain jobs. But it is quite another to see the feds run roughshod over a company, drive it out of business, taking down not only its shareholders, but its bankers and other creditors, and the entire regional economy with it. At the end of the day, many thousands suffered because of federal action in Agriprocessors. No amount of scapegoating Sholom M. Rubashkin can erase that.

[Shmarya]

I am far less interested in the role played by Mr. Rubashkin in this affair, because I believe that most of the ills identified by the feds in targeting him were systemic ills that affected nearly all similarly situated businesses, ills that were brought on by federal neglect and incompetence over decades, and ills that should have been addressed calmly, without hysterics, by professional regulators not men-in-black.

Please.

The federal government sent Sholom Rubashkin HUNDREDS of no-match letters in the year leading up to the raid. Rubashkin did NOTHING to rectify the problems, and did not even respond to many of those letters.

Past that, most businesses do not exist based on stealing from their workers, employing illegal workers and paying them substandard wages, stealing their overtime, and other wise abusing them. And most businesses to not exist based on bank fraud.

Think about that.

[Mr. Apikoros]

None of this makes Rubashkin any less guilty. Yes, he employed illegal (and underaged) workers, paid them substandard wages, and stole their overtime.

Yet it was the workers who received the most Draconian punishment. That was the gist of the article.

[neighbor girl]

www.kttc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1274423
DIKE, Iowa (AP) - "Four employees and the owner of a failed farm implement dealership have pleaded guilty in connection with a financial scheme.

Authorities allege Walterman Implement in Dike scammed lenders through a double financing scheme, which created both real and fake loans on single pieces of farm equipment.

Leon Walterman was the former owner. The 60-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday to mail fraud, money laundering and illegal wiretapping.

In 2005, the dealership filed for bankruptcy.

Authorities allege Walterman and the employees kept a fabricated books and bank statements, among other things, to conceal the scheme.

The other employees pleaded guilty to charges including mail fraud and illegal wiretapping."

Sound familiar? I'll be on the lookout for sentencing.

[neighbor girl]

I found an article about the Waterman implement dealer in the August 17, 2008 Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
"But Smith (Waterman's lawyer) said Walterman shouldn't be blamed for the farmers' misfortunes. 'I'm not sure Leon caused them to lose that money. Case (an implement manufacturer) pushed him into involuntary bankruptcy. Leon didn't push it into bankruptcy,' Smith said."

I think I'm on the trail of a contagious Iowa disease. Those infected operate by their own financial rules and cry, "Someone made me do it" when caught.

[neighbor girl]

The news continues: Judge Reaade has sentenced a Burlington man to 60 days in jail for his involvement in thye Agriprocessors vehicle title scheme.
http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/article_f6cd0aeb-a9fa-5cf4-953a-533d06d7149f.html

[harold]

thats why i dont trust any jews they all steal and lie go back to germany

FailedMessiah's finest comes crawling out of the woodwork! “Shep nachos” for helping to feed the anti-Semites of the world.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Let's get Rubashkin, and to hell with the illegal aliens who rotted in jail for five months, in what the Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY declared to be an unconstitutional denial of due process.

Once again, Shmarya has let his petty vindictiveness, due to Rubashkin overcharging him on some meat, get in the way of sound judgment.

I have no problem with vermin like Rubashkin rotting in prison forever, but a little compassion towards his real victims, the workers he exploited, is in order.

Then again, this entire blog is a hatefest towards the ultra-Orthodox. They sure deserve it, but the fact that Shmarya's doing it says more about him than it does about his targets.

[former charedi]

The federal government sent Sholom Rubashkin HUNDREDS of no-match letters in the year leading up to the raid. Rubashkin did NOTHING to rectify the problems, and did not even respond to many of those letters.

Okay. But you don't know that this is so very different from many other businesses that are based on low wage, illegal alien based jobs. You are singling out Rubashkin because of the way you think things should be. You don't know how things are.

Past that, most businesses do not exist based on stealing from their workers, employing illegal workers and paying them substandard wages, stealing their overtime, and other wise abusing them.

Many do. Again, you can't compare industries like health care, the press or other "respectable" business with those who historically pay their labor a pittance, such as migrant worker based businesses. Based on my travels (and indeed working my way across the US in years past), I would say you need a reality check. Rubashkin may have been wrong, but it seems to me that he was singled out.

And most businesses to not exist based on bank fraud.

Sad to say, many businesses lied on their loan apps, and many loan officers looked the other way before the economic meltdown. The loan officers with commission based positions made money, others got raises and/or promotions for doing more business. Things are tightening up now. As usual, the way ambitious government employees show that they are doing something about such problems is to go after those who took advantage of the system as consumers instead of those whose job it was to vet the loans. CYA.

Things are not as black and white as you claim.

[Shmarya]

Okay. But you don't know that this is so very different from many other businesses that are based on low wage, illegal alien based jobs. You are singling out Rubashkin because of the way you think things should be. You don't know how things are.

Wrong.

I've been covering this day in and day out for years.

The number of no-match letters and the non-response from Rubashkin is unprecedented.

You could read Rubashkin's indictment and the papers ICE submitted to the court to get authorization for the raid and you would see that.

Again, you can't compare industries like health care, the press or other "respectable" business with those who historically pay their labor a pittance, such as migrant worker based businesses. Based on my travels (and indeed working my way across the US in years past), I would say you need a reality check. Rubashkin may have been wrong, but it seems to me that he was singled out.

You think that because you have not done due diligence.

Stealing from and exploiting illegal workers is not rare, to be sure, but most businesses who employ illegal workers do not steal from them.

Past that, as the president noted yesterday, one of the most important ways to stop illegal immigration is to prosecute the employers who deliberately hire and exploit them.

Rubashkin and Agriprocessors are poster children for this policy.

The level of exploration, its scope and its scale at Agriprocessors was unprecedented.

Veteran ICE officers who had done many raids and enforcement actions, including at other meat plants, said they had never seen anything as bad as Agriprocessors.

Sad to say, many businesses lied on their loan apps, and many loan officers looked the other way before the economic meltdown. The loan officers with commission based positions made money, others got raises and/or promotions for doing more business. Things are tightening up now. As usual, the way ambitious government employees show that they are doing something about such problems is to go after those who took advantage of the system as consumers instead of those whose job it was to vet the loans. CYA.

What you do not understand (or simply fail to note because it makes you look foolish) is that Rubashkin committed a long term ongoing fraud that involved laundering money to hide it from the banks, and which stretched back at least 10 years.

This was NOT a simple one time overstatement of assets on a loan application.

[former charedi]

Past that, as the president noted yesterday, one of the most important ways to stop illegal immigration is to prosecute the employers who deliberately hire and exploit them.

That doesn't make it right. It is simply politically expedient to go after the employers, since the government has found itself incompetent at preventing illegal immigration in the first place.

You may have researched it, but this is what I have seen: Those who are in an industry where business survival is dominated by labor costs can either play it straight or cheat by hiring illegals and/or screwing the workers. Very often, business owners see their only chance at short term survival by cheating. In a hard market, many of the straight shooters can't compete, so they fold. The cheaters hope to be the long term survivors and, as they get on firmer footing, start hiring straight and helping some of their illegals (the most profitable ones) become residents. The owners hope to one day have straight businesses that can compete.

While what these companies do is becoming more and more illegal as laws are changed, the problem is that the illegals are in the country. The hope is that if there is not enough opportunity here in the form of jobs, that they will go home. That is a gamble that I see failing.

Historically, when large groups of people lose their source of income, a certain proportion of them turn to crime. I have not done research on it, but I have experienced it in Detroit and Youngstown. So with a percentage turning to crime and lots of others left here becoming fodder for their new enterprises, I foresee a much larger problem coming out of this than workers getting paid less that minimum wage.

And while we're at it, let's clear up the exploitation angle. There are some in government with Latino origins who don't like the exploitation. But the big push against illegal immigration comes mostly from unions and other labor groups who are losing their jobs to a cheaper workforce. Another source of pressure is the whole Homeland Security complex, who feel there is more security in a country that can control its own borders.

It (again) is politically expedient to blame immigration enforcement on humanitarian reasons that "protect" the illegals, rather than saying we should return these people to their homes to live in poverty and ill health so that our citizens here can live better lives. It's a quandary, true. But the exploitation angle is spin. At the present time it allows the prosecution of business owners who are choked by competitive labor costs overseas and by their cheating counterparts here.

What I have seen in the short term since the government has started going after employers is illegals forming their own businesses and competing with American citizens. So far it has only happened with smaller businesses like landscaping and home renovation. But it is hard to control such businesses when you can't even pin a social security number on the principals.

Of course, not much of this has to do with Rubashkin's criminal activities, except that he may have trained illegals in how to run their own startups. But the whole concept of "even the President said" is just politically correct flummery.