Associated Press
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A former manager of a kosher slaughterhouse found to have employed hundreds of illegal immigrants was arrested Oct. 30 by authorities who allege he helped many of the workers get fake documents.
Prosecutors said Sholom Rubashkin, the 49-year-old son of Agriprocessors owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, is charged with conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain, aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.
After an initial appearance in federal court, Rubashkin’s attorney F. Montgomery Brown said Rubashkin intends to plead not guilty.
Rubashkin waived a preliminary hearing and agreed to be released on his own recognizance on the condition that he put up a $500,000 bond by Nov. 5 and wear a GPS tracking bracelet on one of his ankles.
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On Oct. 29, Agriprocessors was fined nearly $10 million by Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil over accusations that it violated state wage laws. The company has 30 days to appeal.
In court, Brown said Rubashkin’s bond would be paid by a cousin in Brooklyn.
Rubashkin smiled but declined comment outside the courtroom.
Rubashkin’s next appearance in court has not yet been set.
Brown said Rubashkin is "of good humor, he’s doing fine."
Immigration agents said in a federal affidavit that one witness said Sholom Rubashkin gave him $4,500 to buy identification documents for illegal-immigrant workers. Another allegedly said that Rubashkin saw nothing wrong with hiring a group of workers who had new-looking resident alien cards and may have been fired from the Agriprocessors plant in Postville just two days earlier.
Agents raided the plant May 12, arresting 389 people in what officials said at the time was the largest single-site immigration bust in U.S. history. State prosecutors allege that more than 30 of the workers were children.
Agents also seized dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards during the raid, according to the affidavit. The U.S. attorney’s office and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman declined to comment on the case.
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Earlier last week, Laura Althouse, a human resources employee with Agriprocessors, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain and aggravated identity theft.
