Dozens Of Sentences Handed Down In Agriprocessors Raid

Those expected to serve time have pleaded guilty to using false IDs that belonged to real people. Eight others have been sentenced to five years’ probation and face deportation immediately; they used false IDs that did not belong to actual people, the newspaper’s Web site said.

Prosecutors dropped more serious identity-theft charges against most of the immigrants, which would have carried a mandatory two-year minimum prison sentence. Some former employees of Postville, Iowa’s largest employer may testify if prosecutors decide to press charges against the processing company’s managers or owners, according to the Register.

Meanwhile, the organization that certifies Agriprocessors’ products as kosher says it does not plan to rescind the plant’s certification, according to The Gazette, a regional newspaper serving eastern Iowa.

Orthodox Union is a non-profit organization based in New York that certifies meatpacking plants around the world. The organization is waiting to see whether the federal government finds the company guilty of any wrongdoing before taking steps toward decertification.

“We rely on the government to make those judgments … and we will wait to see where the facts lead,” Rabbi Menachem Genack, who oversees the Orthodox Union’s certification system, told The Gazette. “If Agriprocessors were criminally liable and it were a felony, that would be a matter of great concern.”

ICE officials raided Agriprocessors, the nation’s largest kosher meat-processing plant, on May 12 and detained 389 workers. They had warrants for 697 people who work at the plant.