Washington (JTA) -- The immigration raid on the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, the largest kosher plant in the country, caught most American Jews completely off-guard.
Since the raid in May, which resulted in the arrest of nearly 400 illegal workers, additional serious allegations have emerged against the plant owned by the Brooklyn-based Rubashkin family, including inhumane working conditions, egregious violations of child-labor laws, sexual harassment of female workers and multiple workplace safety infractions.
Lost in the controversy over Agriprocessors is a discussion in the Jewish community of sensible immigration policies.
Avoiding that discourse is tantamount to complicity in what transpired there, and ignoring the problem of illegal immigration virtually guarantees that Agriprocessors' despicable practices will be repeated elsewhere.
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http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/200808240822steinlight.html