CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Twenty-four illegal immigrants being held as material witnesses in a federal case against a former kosher meatpacking plant manager will be released.
The former workers at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville were among those arrested during an immigration raid at the plant in May 2008. They were to be deported after they served a jail sentence but their deportation was delayed so they could testify at the immigration trial of former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin.
Rubashkin was convicted of 86 counts of financial fraud following a trial earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls, S.D. Immigration charges against Rubashkin have been dropped.
The former workers are authorized to work but it's not clear if they will be deported.
