300 illegal workers get Iowa prison sentences
WATERLOO, Iowa - In temporary courtrooms at a fairgrounds, nearly 300 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for working at a meatpacking plant with false documents.
The prosecutions, which ended yesterday, signal a sharp escalation in the Bush administration's crackdown on illegal workers, with prosecutors bringing tough federal criminal charges against most of the immigrants who were arrested in a May 12 raid.
Previously, unauthorized workers have generally been detained by immigration officials for civil violations and rapidly deported from the country.
The convicted immigrants were among 389 workers detained at the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher meats plant in nearby Postville, in a raid that federal officials called the largest criminal enforcement operation ever carried out by immigration authorities at a workplace.
The swift proceedings, in which 297 immigrants pleaded guilty and were sentenced in four days, were criticized by criminal defense lawyers, who warned of violations of due process.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association protested that the workers had been denied meetings with immigration lawyers and that their claims under immigration law had been swept aside in unusual and speedy plea agreements.
The illegal immigrants, most of them from Guatemala, filed into the courtrooms in groups of 10, their hands and feet shackled. One by one, they entered guilty pleas through a Spanish interpreter, admitting they had taken jobs using fraudulent Social Security cards or immigration documents.
The pleas were part of a deal worked out with prosecutors to avoid even harsher charges. The immigrants agreed to immediate deportation after they serve the five months in prison.
Defense lawyers, who were appointed by the court, said most of the immigrants were ready to accept the plea deals because prosecutors said that otherwise they would face felony identity theft charges that carry a mandatory two-year minimum jail sentence.
