Anticlimactic End to High Profile Agriprocessors Immigration Raid

The May, 2008 immigration raids of an Agriprocessors kosher meat plant put Postville, Iowa on the map. The raid revealed nearly 400 undocumented immigrants working at the plant and gained national media attention.

But now all of the immigration charges have been dropped against former manager Sholom Rubashkin, putting an abrupt and, to many, unsatisfying end to the drama. Foes of illegal immigration were eager to see an example set, while immigrant advocates wanted the chance to highlight the plight of undocumented immigrants. And because many of his colleagues took pleas, Rubashkin’s was the only major trial to proceed.

But prosecutors decided that the trial was not worth the effort or expense, given that Rubashkin was already found guilty on 86 charges of fraud and could face a maximum of 1,255 years in prison. Even if Rubashkin were found guilty of all 72 of his immigration charges, it wouldn’t impact his sentence.

The dismissal of charges could, however, have an impact on the immigrant witnesses who have been forced to stay in the United States to testify, even though many of them would much rather have returned home months ago to Mexico or Guatemala.

Rubashkin’s lawyer is seeking an appeal on the fraud charges, but the fact that the prosecutors completely dropped the immigration trial suggests they’re pretty confident that appeal isn’t going to go anywhere.