Kosher slaughterhouse manager admits to violations tied to immigrant workers
By RYAN J. FOLEY on Aug 30, 2013, at 2:27 AM Updated on 8/30/13 at 5:51 AM
Amara
Employment
The Obama administration approved new rules Tuesday that extend minimum wage and overtime pay to nearly 2 million home health-care workers who help the elderly and disabled with everyday tasks such as bathing, eating or taking medicine.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said Monday that his effort to revamp the tax code helped attract some of the business world's biggest names to Montana for a jobs conference that touched on taxes, energy development and other issues.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A former Iowa slaughterhouse manager has admitted to conspiring to harbor and recruit immigrants who entered the country illegally and then fleeing to Israel after the plant was raided in 2008, according to a plea agreement filed Thursday.
Hosam Amara will plead guilty Friday to one count of conspiring to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit, under terms of the plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cedar Rapids. In exchange, prosecutors will dismiss several other counts of harboring immigrants and document fraud returned against him in a 2009 indictment.
Amara had managed the second shift on the poultry side of the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, which once was the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines will likely call for a shorter sentence for Amara, 48. His attorney, Mark Fisher of Cedar Rapids, didn't immediately return a phone message.
Amara left the U.S. for Israel weeks after federal agents descended on the plant in May 2008, arresting 389 workers in what was the largest workplace enforcement action at the time. Amara was arrested in 2011 after years as a fugitive, and taken to the U.S. to face the charges in April after unsuccessfully challenging extradition. A Muslim with Israeli citizenship, Amara has been detained since then at the Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids.
Original Print Headline: Slaughterhouse boss admits recruiting illegals
Employment
The Obama administration approved new rules Tuesday that extend minimum wage and overtime pay to nearly 2 million home health-care workers who help the elderly and disabled with everyday tasks such as bathing, eating or taking medicine.
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said Monday that his effort to revamp the tax code helped attract some of the business world's biggest names to Montana for a jobs conference that touched on taxes, energy development and other issues.
