Court kept busy by parade of detainees after raid

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By Jeff Reinitz | Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:06 PM CDT | () comments

Detainees head to Electric Park for court on the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo, Iowa. The arrests were made after a immigration raid of Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, on Monday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

WATERLOO, Iowa — Guatemalans rounded up during Monday’s immigration raid at Agriprocessors are getting a crash course in constitutional rights as court continued today at the Electric Park Ballroom.

The building has been converted into a federal courtroom for some of the 390 detained workers who are facing criminal charges.

The number of people facing criminal charges from among those detained has climbed to at least 270, according to the court schedule, although an official tally wasn’t available this morning.

About 10 of those arrested are women, and charges include allegations of aggravated identity theft, false use of a Social Security number and fraudulent use of an alien registration card, U.S. Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth said. The balance are being detained administratively for possible immigration violations.

The back-to-back court hearings played out like an elaborate dance with repetitive steps.

Clad in blue jeans, navy blue sweat shirts and the reinforced work boots they were arrested in, defendants were marched into the courtroom eight to 10 at a time, their leg chains jingling against the dance floor.

Heads bowed, their eyes searched the spectators for familiar faces but found none.

They spoke their names, raised their cuffed hands to respond to questions and then were led out as another set appeared to take their place.

Occasionally there were questions.

“The attorney won’t even charge us a cent?” one detainee asked through an interpreter when his group was informed of their right to free legal counsel. “Because we don’t have sufficient funds to pay.“

By Wednesday noon break, about 100 had completed initial appearances, the first step in the judicial process.

But many of the detainees who chimed up in court appeared eager to get the whole thing over.

After being told how a status hearing and then a preliminary hearing had been scheduled a week distant in his case, Luis Alvarado-Sajcho asked if there was any way to accelerate the proceedings so he could get to his home city.

Magistrate Judge Paul Zoss informed him his attorney could best explain his options.

A few sets later, Armondo Hernandez-Salome explained why no one in his group raised a hand when asked if they wanted the court to provide them an attorney.

Speaking though an interpreter, he said the group didn’t want an attorney because they didn’t want to fight the charges. They just want to be deported and return to their home country.

He added that their families don’t know what’s happening.

Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles explained that the criminal charges are separate from the immigration proceedings and could land them in prison.

“Having a lawyer doesn’t slow things down,” Scoles said.

Defense attorney Chris Clausen said most of the lawyers have been able to consult with their groups before the initial appearances. He said documents are being provided in both Spanish and English.

Two additional courtrooms were set up in mobile buildings in the ballroom parking lot in the event defendants want to enter pleas, said Chief Judge Linda Reade. As of noon, there were no takers.

Once detainees finish their initial appearance in court, they are moved from the National Cattle Congress to be housed in federally certified jails.

The intake process prior to initial appearances has been a bit frustrating for other attorneys, mostly because of the sheer number of people trying to be processed and the way the entire intake system has been set up, said Andrea Diaz, an immigration attorney formerly from Waterloo.

ICE officials have been accommodating to their needs, but delays plague the process.

“I think people now are willing to help us get in there and find our clients, but it’s still a slow and tedious process,” Diaz said.

Diaz, who works with the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said she has been working mostly with women to see if they qualify for free legal aid or need help retaining a lawyer.

Because the women are housed at the Hardin County Jail in Eldora, sometimes the delays mean that by the time she can meet with a person, they’ve already been transported back to Hardin County, or moved to the criminal courts system.

Most of the charges are misused of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.

In one case, an undocumented alien from Guatemala had claimed to be a lawfully admitted permanent resident when he applied at Agriprocessors in Postville. But during Monday’s raid, immigration agents found the alien number in his employment file was actually assigned to a person from Honduras. The man had also been previously deported from the United States at least twice, the criminal complaint alleges.

Another worker used a Social Security number that belongs to a Louisiana resident

Court records allege that in February and March, 738 of the 968 employee Social Security numbers reported on the Agriprocessors payroll were either invalid or were issued to other names.

Some of those charged claimed to be under the age of 18 as they were processed by immigration agents.

“If they are juveniles ... we dismiss that charge at this point. So, generally, the juveniles won’t be processed under criminal prosecution,” said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern Iowa.

The balance of those not facing criminal charges are charged with immigration violations and will appear before an immigration judge after others are processed.

Men facing criminal charges are being housed at Estel Hall on the National Cattle Congress grounds pending initial court appearances.

Diaz said she’s heard rumors of potential charges being filed against Agriprocessors officials for misconduct or violations of immigration law, but nothing is certain at this point.

“I think it’ll just depend on what is discovered in the investigations and whether there is any credible evidence to bring against them,” Diaz said.

Staff writer Josh Nelson contributed to this article.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com