Fraud and Duct Tape
For example, a former plant supervisor told investigators that approximately 80 percent of Agri's workforce was illegal, including rabbis who the source believed came to the US from Canada without proper immigration documents in order to supervise kashruth. The former employee said that perhaps as many as almost 700 plant employees have violated federal laws.
Some former employees said undocumented workers had been paid in cash by the plant, and others said an Agri supervisor had charged workers to help them acquire false documents and Social Security numbers.
One former employee said "a chassidic Jew"- duct-taped a worker's eyes and then hit him with a meat hook. The injuries from this alleged episode, however, were not sufficiently serious for the unnamed worker to seek medical assistance.
Sex and Drugs
Other former workers allegedly told Sister Mary McCauley, a Roman Catholic nun at Postville's St. Bridget's Church, that they had been victims of sexual abuse at the plant. Ms. McCauley told the Des Moines Register that if workers wanted a promotion or a shift change, "they'd be brought into a room with three or four men and it was like, "-Which one do you want? Which one are you going to serve?'"- she said.
There were accusations that Agri promoted child-labor, but when the officers raided the plant, no children were found.
Washington attorney Nathan Lewin said he found the "viciousness"- of the allegations in the affidavit "disturbing,"- especially because they go well beyond the immigration charges.
There were, for examples, rumors that federal authorities believed a methamphetamine laboratory was operating at Agri. Known on the street as "crystal meth,"- the drug, which users say gives them a sense of energy and euphoria that can last for hours, is illegal in the US.
Pipe Bombs and Guns
The affidavit against Agri includes an allegation that "pipe bombs"- were being produced at the plant, prompting federal inspectors to search mezuzoth hanging on Agri's doors in the erroneous belief that they might contain incendiary devices.
There were also allegations in the affidavit that guns were routinely carried on the premises, which eyewitnesses have told numerous media outlets simply is not true.
The charges prompted Rep Bruce Braley (D-IA) to support an investigation into whether the plant violated workplace safety, child labor, and immigration laws.
"Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with illegal immigration,"- said Mr. Braley, adding that the number of arrests at Agri "raises questions"- about the plant's "knowledge of possible violations of employment and immigration law."-
"Absurd"-
Rabbis involved in supervising Agri's kashruth dismiss most of the allegations as absurd.
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