Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Kosher Jungle

Chronicle of Agriprocessors (1987–2009)

  • Chapter
US Immigration Reform and Its Global Impact

  • 96 Accesses

Abstract

In November 2008, I was invited to deliver the Centennial Lecture of the Immigrant Protective League (IPL), an organization founded in 1909 by a group of women living at the Hull Settlement House of the great social reformer Jane Addams (1860–1935). The IPL helped immigrants resettle; established waiting rooms at railroad stations, where multilingual volunteers helped recent arrivals find relatives and friends; and investigated loan and employment agencies that preyed on immigrants. The Hull House became the model for over 500 settlement houses eventually established throughout the United States. Before my speech, the curator gave me a tour of the Italianate museum mansion, now part of the University of Illinois, and pointed out that a century earlier Upton Sinclair had stayed here while researching his classic novel, The Jungle (1906), about immigrant life in the slaughterhouses of Chicago.

Thus again were the strong devouring the weak, according to the law which prevails in the jungle.

—Upton Sinclair1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (Tucson: See Sharp Press, 2003), 65–69.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Tony Leys, “New Faces Endure Same Struggle,” Des Moines Register, May 17, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Nathaniel Popper, “How the Rubashkins Changed the Way Jews Eat in America: The Rise and Fall of Agriprocessors Is the Story of an Immigrant Family Gone Awry,” Jewish Forward, December 11, 2008. See also Yaakob Astor’s Blog, “The Rubashkin Story from A-Z,” May 12, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Stephen Bloom, Postville (New York: Harcourt, 2000) 134–35, 141–42.

    Google Scholar 

  5. US attorney’s office, Northern District of Iowa, “Agriprocessors’ Operations Manager Pleads Guilty to Document Fraud Conspiracy” (Press Release), January 11, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nathaniel Popper, “In Rubashkins’ Backyard, Another Tale of Labor Strife: Kosher Giant Turns to Supreme Court in Fight with Immigrants,” Jewish Forward, August 14, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Steven Greenhouse, “Meatpacker in Brooklyn Challenges a Union Vote,” New York Times, September 1, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  8. lames Barrett, Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago’s Packinghouse Workers, 1894–1922 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Jimmy Scaggs, Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the United States, 1607–1983 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  10. “Iowa Turkey Plant Fire,” Firehouse.com, December 21, 2003; Joel Palmer and Jessica Miller, “Postville Turkey Plant to Close for Good,” wcfCourrier.com, May 1, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Vladimir Propp, Morphology of the Folktale [1928] (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves [1933] (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks [1952] (New York: Grove Press, 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Julia Preston, “Inquiry Finds Under-Age Workers at Meat Plant,” New York Times, August 5, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  15. John Slagle, “Fraudulent Document Criminal Organizations, National Security Concerns,” Examiner.com, March 5, 2011; “FBI Breaks Up Major Fake ID Ring Supplying to Undocumented Aliens in Over 40 States&Mexico,” Hispanically Speaking News, November 6, 2011; “ICE Breaks Up Nationwide Network Producing Fake Identification,” Hispanically Speaking News, January 9, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Jeff Reinitz, “Agriprocessors Supervisor Pleads Guilty,” WFC Courier, August 21, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Amy Lorentzen, “Former Iowa Kosher Slaughterhouse Personnel Manager Pleads Guilty to Immigration Charges,” Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jeff Abbas, “Postville Radio’s Jeff Abbas on Agriprocessors’ Workers’ Housing,” FailedMessiah.com, November 8, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Lynda Waddington, “Postville Property Company Ends Contract with Agriprocessors Staffing Agency,” Iowa Independent, September 27, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Grant Schulte, “Detainees Allege Abuse by Company,” Des Moines Register, May 16, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Jeff Reinitz, “Former Agriprocessors Officials Still in Israel,” WFC Courier, March 16, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Kim Bobo, Wage Theft in America (New York: Norton, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lance Compa, Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers’ Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Lynda Waddington, “Professor, PETA: When No One Is Looking, Agriprocessors Does ‘Bad Things,’” Iowa Independent, September 5, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Emily Yoffe, “In Postville, Iowa, Kosher Is Kosher,” National Geographic, June 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Nathaniel Popper, “In Iowa Meat Plant, Kosher ‘Jungle’ Breeds Fear, Injury, Short Pay,” Jewish Forward, May 26, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Nathaniel Popper, “Kosher Slaughterhouse Hit with Lawsuits,” Jewish Forward, May 18, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Hoagland, “Affidavit in Support of a Search Warrant of Agriprocessors,” paragraphs 83 and 88; Lynda Waddington, “Agriprocessors Ignored Government Warnings for Years,” Iowa Independent, May 24, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Noel Paul, “A Farm-Belt Town Goes Global, and Thrives: Postville, Iowa, Broadened Its Immigrant Workforce and Saved a Local Industry,” Christian Science Monitor, August 20, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  30. “Sate Reduces Safety Fines Against Agriprocessors,” WFCCourier.com, May 30, 2008; Clark Kauffman, “Agriprocessors Safety Problems,” Des Moines Register, May 13, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tony Leys, “Harkin Move Kept Agriprocessors Plant Afloat,” Des Moines Register, December 28, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  32. William Petroski and Nigel Duara, “Union Had Asked Authorities Not to Raid Plant,” Des Moines Register, May 12, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Julia Preston, “Meatpacker Is Fined Nearly $10 Million,” New York Times, October 29, 2008; “Agriprocessors Unlikely to Pay Reduced Fines,” KCRG-TV9, July 28, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Julia Preston, “Large Iowa Meatpacker in Illegal Immigrant Raid Files for Bankruptcy,” New York Times, November 5, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Tony Leys, “Agriprocessors Halts Operations Amid Bankruptcy,” Des Moines Register, November 17, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Lynda Waddington, “Agriprocessors and Other Rubashkin Companies File to Avoid Dissolution,” Iowa Independent, February 25, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Nathaniel Popper, “Agriprocessors’ Bankruptcy Leaves Iowa Town Flailing,” Jewish Forward, November 6, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Dave Franzman, “Lt. Governor Meets with Community in Postville,” KCR.G-TV9, December 4, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Tony Leys, “‘We Can’t Even Feed’ Kids, Postville Crowd Tells Judge,” Des Moines Register, December 5, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Lisa Keefe, “Agriprocessors Gets $2.5 Million to Restart Processing— Temporarily,” National Immigrant Solidarity Network Daily News Listserv, December 3, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Dave DeWitte, “Lender Forecloses on Agriprocessors,” Cedar Rapids Gazzette, October 31, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Nathaniel Popper, “Bankrupt Agriprocessors Slated for Sale,” Jewish Forward, July 3, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Maggie Jones, “Postville, Iowa, Is Up for Grabs,” New York Times Magazine, July 11, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Josh Nathan-Kazis, “Kosher Meat Still Slaughtered Inhumanely,” Jewish Forward, October 14, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Samuel Friedman, “Rabbi’s Campaign for Kosher Standards Expands to Include Call for Social Justice,” New York Times, May 19, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Stewart Ain, “Orthodox Rabbi’s Now Tie Kashrut to Ethics,” New York Jewish Week, Septemer 29, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Avi Shafran, “When Tzedek Isn’t: The Conservative Movement Finds a Cause,” Cross-Currents, February 17, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Lynda Waddington, “Postville Immigration Rally,” Iowa Independent, July 27–29, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Pauline Yearwood, “Let Their People Stay: Chicago Organizations Are at the Forefront in Giving the Jewish Perspective on Today’s Hot Immigration Debate,” Chicago Jewish News, July 16, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, “Yisro and Apathy,” in Perfidy in Iowa: The Saga of Shalom Mordechai Rubashkin as Reported in the Pages of Yated Ne’eman (February 13, 2009), 39.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Elizabeth Dwoskin, “The Fall of the House of Rubashkin: As the Nation’s Largest Kosher Empire Implodes, Brooklyn’s Ultra-Orthodox Jews Begin to Break Ranks,” The Village Voice, December 3, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Debbie Maimon and Avi Yishai, “Rubashkin Trial Wraps Up,” Perfidy in Iowa, November 13, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Lynda Waddington, “Judge Considers Prejudice in Rubashkin Grand Jury Indictment,” Iowa Independent, February 2, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Samuel Friedman, “A Muckraking Blogger Focuses on Jews,” New York Times, January 8, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Shmarya Rosenberg, “Rubashkin Scandals,” FailedMessiah.com, accessed September 15, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Gal Beckerman, “Rubashkin’s Jail Sentence Denounced by Angry Haredim,” Jewish Forward, June 23, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  57. National Labor Relations Board, Cherry Hill Textiles Inc and United Production Workers Union, Local 17–18, Case No. 318 29-CA-17848 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  58. Lynda Waddington, “Rubashkin Family Member Heads to Prison for Pennsylvania Misdeeds,” Iowa Independent, November 6, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Dan Barry, “About New York; Man with Pull Gets a Bundle of Trouble,” New York Times, August 30, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Lynda Waddington, “Fraud Charges Familiar to the Rubashkin Family,” Iowa Independent, November 14, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Lynda Waddington, “Agriprocessors Charged with over 9,000 Child Labor Law Violations,” Iowa Independent, September 9, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Rabbi Menachem Genack, “Setting the Record Straight on Kosher Slaughter,” www.oukosher.org, n.d.; Ben Harris, “Orthodox Union May Revoke Agriprocessors’ Kosher Certification,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 12, 2008; Orthodox Union, “Statement of the OU on New Agriprocessors CEO,” www.ou.org, September 18, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Lynda Waddington, “Breaking: Rubashkin Arrested, Will Appear in Federal Court Today,” Iowa Independent, October 30, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Lynda Waddington, “As Agriprocessors Sinks Deeper, Elected Officials React to Rubashkin’s Arrest,” Iowa Independent, November 1, 2008; “Postville Tense After Evictions, Another Raid, and Agri’s Bankruptcy,” Iowa Independent, November 6, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Tony Leys, “Agriprocessors’ Former Leader Arrested Again,” Des Moines Register, November 14, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  66. US attorney’s office, Northern District of Iowa, Press Release: “Former Agriprocessors CEO Rubashkin Arrested Again: New Charge of Multi-Million Dollar Bank Fraud,” November 14, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Lynda Waddington, “Rubashkin to Remain in Custody,” Iowa Independent, November 20, 2008; “Rabbis Call for Rubashkin’s Release,” Iowa Independent, January

    Google Scholar 

  68. 12, 2009; Pat Curtis, “Former Agriprocessors Executive Expected to Get Out of Jail Thursday,” Radio Iowa, January 27, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Grant Schulte and Jens Krogstad, “Rubashkin Supporters Show Up as Trial Begins,” Cedar Valley Courier, October 13, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Grant Schulte, “Kosher Slaughterhouse Manager Convicted of Fraud,” USA Today, November 13, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Lynda Waddington, “First Rubashkin Trial Ends with 86 Guilty Verdicts,” Iowa Independent, November 13, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  72. William Petroski and Grant Schulte, “Feds Drop Sholom Rubashkin Immigration Charges,” Des Moines Register, November 19, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Erik Camayd-Freixas, “Guest Column: Postville Raid a Waste,” Des Moines Register, November 24, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Julia Preston, “Life Sentence is Debated for Meat Plant Ex-Chief,” New York Times, April 28, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Janet Reno, et al., “Concerns about the Application ofthe Sentencing Guidelines in the Upcoming Sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin,” April 26, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Julia Preston, “27-Year Sentence for Plant Manager,” New York Times, June 21, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Edwin Black, “Rubashkin Judge Accused of Massive Conflict of Interest,” The Cutting Edge, August 5, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Martin Barillas, “Rubashkin Judge Rules on Her Own Conflict of Interest,” The Cutting Edge, October 28, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Lara Bazelon, “Judges and Prosecutors: Where Is the Line between Cooperation and Collusion,” Huffington Post, September 24, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  80. Jens Krogstad, “New Questions about Judge’s Impartiality in Rubashkin Case,” Des Moines Register, May 29, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  81. Tony Leys, “Appeals Court: Rubashkin Doesn’t Deserve New Trial,” Des Moines Register, September 16, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  82. Mary Price, “The Sentencing of Sholom Rubashkin,” Huffington Post, September 24, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  83. Lara Bazelon, et al., Letter to US attorney general Eric Holder and the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, July 15, 2011; Alan Dershowitz and Ronald Rotunda, “Prosecutorial and Judicial Misconduct: High Court Should Hear ‘Rubashkin’ to Consider Overzealous DOJ and Judge Who Was Essentially on Prosecution Team,” National Law Journal, April 30, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Debra Weiss, “Waxman Amicus Brief—One of Six Urging Cert in Rubashkin Case—Raises Questions of Bias,” ABA Journal, May 10, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  85. Nicholas McKinney, Unjustified: The Unchecked Power of America’s Justice System (New York: Long Tail Films, September 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  86. Associated Press, “U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Rubashkin Appeal,” Cedar Valley Courier, October 1, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Rabbi Menachem Genack, “Rubashkin Sentence Sullies U.S. Justice System,” The Jewish Press, June 30, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  88. Sentencing Exhibits 11127–11130, Case 2:08-cr-01324-LRR, US District Court, Northern District of Iowa, filed April 27, 2010; Dave DeWitte, “Israeli Food Company Offers $40 Million for Agriprocessors,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, January 26, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  89. Tony Leys, “Canadian Businessman Makes Only Bid for Agriprocessors,” Des Moines Register, July 6, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  90. Noam Amdurski, “Hershy Friedman and Co. to Buy Agri, Valued at $25 million,” Matzav.com, June 24, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Lynda Waddington, “Sale of Agriprocessors Approved by Bankruptcy Court,” Iowa Independent, July 20, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  92. Liz Goodwin, “Years After Immigration Raid, Iowa Town Feels Poorer and Less Stable,” Yahoo News, December 7, 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  93. Larry Yudelson, “OU Weighs In on Agriprocessors Scandal,” The Jewish Standard, May 29, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  94. Jens Krogstad, “Rubashkin Trial: Not Guilty on All Child Labor Charges,” Des Moines Register, June 7, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  95. Stephanie Rose, “Setting the Record Straight on the Postville Prosecution,” Des Moines Register, June 22, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Erik Camayd-Freixas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2013 Erik Camayd-Freixas

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Camayd-Freixas, E. (2013). The Kosher Jungle. In: US Immigration Reform and Its Global Impact. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137106780_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation