Anu ■

AMMO.

BIRMINGHAM'S NEWEST ADDRESS

IF VOW

the American Immigration Lawyers
Association, told the committee. "The
spectacle was a national disgrace'
Perhaps the most anticipated testi-
mony was that of Erik Camayd-Freixas,
a federally certified translator who had
a front-row seat to the legal proceed-
ings in Iowa.
Camayd-Freixas wrote a damning
essay last month about the proceedings,
earning him a news story in the New
York Times and an accompanying edito-
rial headlined "The Shame of Postville'
It was Camayd-Freixas who compared
the detention facilities to a concentra-
tion camp.
He testified that the detainees, many
of them illiterate, poor and with a spot-
ty understanding of Spanish — many
of them speak native dialects — had
only a tenuous grasp of the charges
pending against them. Guilty pleas were
obtained under duress, Camayd-Freixas
said, from defendants who didn't know
what a Social Security number was, let
alone that they had stolen one.
"I saw the Bill of Rights denied;'
Camayd-Freixas saidAnd it all
appeared to be within the framework
of the law"
While the committee dealt mainly
with issues related to the Postville raid,
the larger and thornier debate over
national immigration policy hovered
over the hearing. Democratic and
Republican members traded barbs over
the issue during the nearly six-hour
inquiry, which was interrupted twice
for floor votes.
"We have a schizophrenic country,'
said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif , not-

Demonstration

ing that calls for a temporary worker
program would fail unless enforcement
was taken seriously.
Lungren said the hearings seemed
to focus on the supposed failures
of a government agency, but in fact
further investigation might find that
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
did things properly.
"We'll keep looking;' Lofgren inter-
jected.
While Republican members tended
to focus on the need for stepped-up
enforcement and Democrats more on
the supposed violations of individual
rights, all seemed to agree on one thing:
The nation's immigration system is
badly in need of repair.
Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, who rep-
resents part of Postville, reiterated his
concern that the government is focus-
ing its enforcement on the wrong peo-
ple. It is the employers, Braley told the
committee, who need to be prosecuted.
"There is no doubt that workers
who violate the law need to be held
accountable," Braley said. "However,
while ICE has been effective in finding
and detaining undocumented employ-
ees who may have broken the law, I'm
equally concerned that the employer,
Agriprocessors, be fully investigated and
prosecuted for any violations of the law'
Two supervisors at Agriprocessors
have pleaded not guilty to aiding and
abetting the use of illegal documents.
A warrant is out for the arrest of a third
supervisor.
The owners of the company have
denied any knowledge of wrongdoing. ❑

from page A24

Rabbi Harold Kravitz of Adath Jeshurun tions of worker mistreatment by
Congregation in Minneapolis.
Agriprocessors and its Jewish owners
Working conditions are no better
are giving Jews a bad name, fanning the
in many other industrial plants, he
flames of anti-Semitism and "messing
noted, but the fact that Agriprocessors
it up for the rest of us," as he put it.
is Jewish owned and produces kosher
"But we're not here because we want
meat gives the case particular urgency
kosher meat;' he said. "We're here for
to some Jewish activists.
the people. We care how people are
"We're here as Jews because we
being treated:'
believe kosher means we must answer
Abby Seeskin, 20, a student at
to a higher authority;' Rabbi Kravitz
Macalester College in St. Paul, had been
said.
to a few rallies for immigrant rights,
"We think a Jewish voice is critical;'
but this was the first time she went as
added Vic Rosenthal, the executive
part of a Jewish group. "It's important
director of Jewish Community Action.
not just because it's a kosher plant but
"Who else should be speaking up for
because, although I'm not particularly
workers' rights, especially when it
religious, the Jewish values I grew up
involves kosher food?"
with influence my outlook in life and
Jonathan Ribnick, 15, was on one
have informed my interest in immigra-
of two busloads of teens from Camp
tion issues',' she explained. "The idea
Ramah in Wisconsin. On one hand,
of tikkun olam" — reparing the world
Ribnick was upset that the allega-
— "is very important to me."

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