Congress investigates Agriprocessors raid
In a hearing last week, a subcommittee of the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee considered whether law enforcement agencies violated due process when they prosecuted the illegal workers nabbed at the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa.
The May 12 raid led to a fast-tracked legal process in which about 300 Spanish-speaking defendants pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to document fraud and identity theft. Most were sentenced to five months in jail to be followed by deportation. The legal process was completed in less than two weeks.
David Leopold, the national vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the committee that defendants were faced with an absurd choice: They either could accept a government plea, serve five months in jail and then be deported, or they could plead not guilty, wait several months for trial and risk a two-year mandatory jail sentence. However that turned out, they ultimately would be deported anyway.
“What choice did the workers really have?” Leopold said. “The spectacle was a national disgrace.”
Deborah Rhodes, a senior associate deputy attorney general with the Department of Justice, told the committee that defendants were permitted to meet with experienced counsel and were given seven days to consider their legal options, and that measures were taken to ensure that the charges were understood before the guilty plea was accepted.
“While the sheer number of illegal aliens in this unusual case presented challenges that we do not often face,” Rhodes said, “we believe that the defendants’ constitutional rights were carefully protected and exercised throughout the operation and that each defendant was treated fairly and with respect and dignity.” — jta
McCain wants embassy in Jerusalem
Sen. John McCain would move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if he were elected president, the presumptive Republican nominee told CNN last week.
McCain suggested the relocation is an affirmation of his own commitment to an “undivided Jerusalem.”
“I’ve been committed to that proposition for years,” he said.
Nevertheless, McCain has emphasized that the city’s final status is subject to negotiation despite his position on the matter. Sen. Barack Obama has said that he would only consider moving the embassy once the Israelis and Palestinians come close to a final-status peace agreement. — jpost.com