Detainees fight back with lawsuit

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By Jeff Reinitz | Friday, May 16, 2008 12:07 PM CDT | () comments

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials line up detainees on the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo, Iowa, on Thursday, before they were transported to their court hearings. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

UPDATED: WATERLOO, Iowa — Attorneys for three people arrested during Monday’s Agriprocessors raid have asked the court to bar immigration officials from moving detained workers out of Iowa.

Amy Peck, an Omaha, Neb., attorney, is representing Antonin Trinidad Candido, Roman Trinidad Candido and Maria Refugio Masias both individually and on behalf of the detained employees.

In court records, Peck said her clients and other workers are victims and witnesses to “exploitative practices” at Agriprocessors and could be granted visas.

“As victims they would need to participate in the investigations of the alleged crimes and may be needed to testify as to personal experiences,” Peck said in the writ of habeas corpus submitted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

In conjunction with the writ, another attorney, Sonia Parras Konrad, who is representing 34 detainees, submitted a written statement spelling out some of the allegations against Agriprocessors.

“Through the course of my interviews with the detainees, I have received reports of what appear to be substantial violations by Agriprocessors Inc. of federal law including wage, labor and immigration violations,” Parras Konrad said in the statement.

She said workers told her the company provided false identification and employment eligibility documents for employees, withheld $50 from their checks as “immigration fees,” and subjected them to physical abuse.

The workers told her they weren’t properly compensated for overtime and weren’t allowed to use the restroom during 10-hour shifts, according to Parras Konrad’s statement.

As for those detained by immigration officials, two nursing mothers weren’t provided breast pumps for 48 hours to relieve discomfort, the writ states.

Del Refugio Masias and her husband, who is also detained, haven’t been told of the whereabouts of his children, ages 2 and 5.

Antonin Trinidad Candido is a minor, according to the filing.

The complaint also said some of the workers have spouses and children who are United States citizens and may be eligible for immigration relief through family.

It asks that the detainees be released or allowed a reasonable amount of time to meet with their lawyers before being transferred out of Iowa.

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

Suit claims raid detainees' rights were violated

By The Associated Press

EARLIER STORY: DES MOINES — Attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of an unspecified number of immigrant workers arrested this week during a raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville.

   The lawsuit names the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division and several government officials including Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. It was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

   The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an estimated 147 detained immigrant workers and names three of the petitioners: Antonin Trinidad Candido, Roman Trinidad Candido and Maria del Refugio Masias.

   The U.S. attorney's office said Monday's raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking plant was the largest single raid in U.S. history, resulting in nearly 400 arrests. A spokesman for the office said he couldn't comment on pending litigation.

   The lawsuit alleges that government agencies and officials violated the immigrant workers' constitutional rights. Those rights include the right to due process, which includes protections from arbitrary prolonged and indefinite detention. The suit also states that their rights to consult with counsel have been violated, among other claims.

   Most of the immigrant workers are being held at local jails. In the suit, lawyers are trying to prevent the workers from being transferred out of the state, which has happened with immigrants who have been arrested in similar raids.

   The lawsuit claimed that such transfers ``would interfere with and effectively destroy the ongoing relationship between detainees and their attorneys.'' It said the transfers would also deprive the detainees of their rights to present witnesses and evidence and of their right to pursue legal action against Agriprocessors for violating federal laws.

   The lawsuit claims that a senior immigration official said the raid was undertaken, in part, because there was evidence that the company violated federal wage and labor laws and undertook criminal enterprises that violated racketeering laws.

   One attorney has interviewed detainees and, according to the lawsuit, learned that Agriprocessors obtained false identification for immigrant workers, improperly withheld money from employees' paychecks for ``immigration fees,'' did not allow workers to use the restroom during 10-hour shifts, physically abused workers and didn't compensate them for overtime work.

   It claimed that as victims of alleged crimes, the immigrant workers would be eligible for certain visas that would let them gain legal status. It said if they are transferred from Iowa, they would be deprived of their rights under the Crime Victims' Rights Act.

   ``As victims they would need to participate in the investigations of the alleged crimes and may be needed to testify as to personal experiences,'' the lawsuit said.

   It also claimed that some of the detained workers have spouses and children that are U.S. citizens, and could be eligible for immigration relief because of their family ties.

   The lawsuit noted that a number of immigrant workers' children have been stranded with baby sitters and other caretakers as a result of the raid, and that transferring the parents of the children would hamper the process of lawyers and advocates who are working to help those children.

   It said Maria del Refugio Masias, one of the petitioners who is the mother of two young children, and her husband, were both detained and have not been told the whereabouts of their children. Transferring them and other detained workers with children out the state would cause undo hardship for the families, the lawsuit said.

   Telephone messages left for those who filed the lawsuit, the Peck Law Firm and the Dornan & Lustgarten firm, both of Omaha, Neb., weren't immediately returned.

Federal class-action lawsuit filed in raid

By The Associated Press

EARLIER STORY: CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Three people arrested in this week’s immigration raid at a meatpacking plant in Postville have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division and several government officials.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. It claims Agriprocessors Inc. acquired false identification for workers, along with numerous allegations of abuse from supervisors. It also alleges the detainees haven’t had adequate time for legal services.

The lawsuit was filed by Antonin Trinidad Candido, Roman Trinidad Candido and Maria del Refugio Masias, on behalf of an “unspecific number of detained immigrant workers.” It was filed through the Peck Law Firm and Dornan & Lustgarten firm in Omaha, Neb.

ICE agents arrested nearly 400 people on Monday in the largest immigration raid in U.S. history.