Iowa Attorney General Files Criminal Complaint Against Agriprocessors for 9,311 Child Labor Violations, Revealing Systematic Use of Minors as Young as 14 in Dangerous Meatpacking Operations with Harsh Chemicals and Power Equipment

On September 9, 2008, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a criminal complaint against Agriprocessors Inc. and five company officials for 9,311 child labor law violations that occurred from September 9, 2007, through May 12, 2008, at the company’s Postville meatpacking plant. The magnitude of violations prompted criminal rather than civil charges, alleging that owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, manager Sholom Rubashkin, and other company officials knowingly employed minors to run power equipment and exposed them to dangerous chemicals. District Court documents stated that 32 employee-victims under age 18—with seven younger than 16—worked at the plant, with approximately 57 specific child labor infractions documented. Iowa authorities found that approximately 10% of the workforce consisted of workers under 18, some as young as 14, who endured 12-hour shifts involving harsh chemicals and extreme conditions in what was described as exceptionally ruthless exploitation even by meatpacking industry standards.

The child labor violations revealed systematic corporate exploitation of vulnerable immigrant youth who were subjected to dangerous conditions explicitly prohibited by federal and state labor laws. Children under 18 were exposed at work to dangerous or poisonous chemicals including dry ice and chlorine solutions, while those under 16 operated or tended power-driven machinery including conveyor belts, meat grinders, circular saws, power washers, and power shears. Underage workers’ oversized protective frocks would get caught on conveyor belts, dragging them down the kill line—a hazard that demonstrated management’s complete disregard for worker safety. The children worked overtime for which they were not compensated, adding wage theft to the catalog of labor law violations. These conditions violated both Iowa child labor laws and federal Fair Labor Standards Act provisions that prohibit minors from working with hazardous equipment or in dangerous occupations.

The child labor violations were enabled by Agriprocessors’ fraudulent hiring practices that company officials designed to evade age verification requirements. Company officials knew that many workers were minors, yet hiring practices encouraged job applicants to submit identification documents that were forgeries containing false information about resident alien status, age, and identity. Most young workers were undocumented immigrants from Guatemala who could not report violations without risking deportation, creating a workforce that management could exploit with impunity. Agriprocessors systematically hired vulnerable undocumented minors precisely because their immigration status prevented them from accessing legal protections or reporting dangerous working conditions, wage theft, or other violations to authorities.

The working conditions endured by child workers at Agriprocessors demonstrated how corporate profit maximization drives systematic violation of labor protections for vulnerable populations. Children as young as 14 worked 12-hour shifts in slaughterhouse conditions involving blood, animal carcasses, dangerous machinery, and exposure to extreme temperatures and toxic chemicals. During the 2010 trial, underage workers described brutal working conditions including constant danger from sharp implements, exposure to chemicals that caused respiratory problems, and a production pace that made injuries inevitable. The company prioritized production speed over worker safety, creating conditions where children faced the same hazards as adult workers despite laws specifically designed to protect minors from industrial dangers. Even among meatpacking plants—an industry with notoriously poor safety records—Agriprocessors stood out for ruthless exploitation.

The child labor violations exemplified regulatory failure and selective enforcement where inspections and protections that should prevent exploitation were absent until after major immigration enforcement action. Despite employing hundreds of workers including dozens of children in hazardous conditions for years, Agriprocessors operated without meaningful oversight from federal or state labor authorities. The Iowa Department of Labor and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failed to detect or act on widespread child labor violations until after the May 12, 2008 ICE raid arrested 389 workers and brought national attention to the plant. This pattern revealed how regulatory agencies prioritize corporate interests over worker protection, with inspections and enforcement actions occurring only when political pressure demands response rather than through proactive protection of vulnerable workers.

The criminal prosecution of Agriprocessors officials for child labor violations resulted in minimal accountability compared to the severity of systematic exploitation of dozens of children over years. While Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed criminal charges, the defendants included only company owner and managers, not the broader network of labor contractors, recruiters, and intermediaries who facilitated the hiring of undocumented minors. Getzel Rubashkin, grandson of Agriprocessors’ founder, claimed the underage hirings resulted from paperwork errors rather than intentional policy—an explanation contradicted by the systematic nature of 9,311 violations and the company’s documented practice of encouraging fraudulent identification documents. The legal consequences for subjecting dozens of children to dangerous industrial conditions involving power equipment and toxic chemicals proved far less severe than the consequences faced by the undocumented workers themselves, who were criminally prosecuted, detained, and deported.

The Agriprocessors child labor case revealed how corporate exploitation of undocumented workers extends to the most vulnerable populations including children, with immigration enforcement serving to punish victims rather than protect them from abuse. During the May 12, 2008 ICE raid, some of the child workers were among the 389 people arrested, detained, and criminally prosecuted for immigration violations. The immigration enforcement apparatus treated child labor exploitation victims as criminals subject to prosecution and deportation rather than as victims deserving protection and legal remedies. This enforcement pattern demonstrated that immigration and labor law systems function to maintain exploitable workforces rather than to protect vulnerable populations, with children who should receive protection instead facing criminal prosecution while corporate executives who knowingly employed and endangered them faced delayed and minimal accountability.

The long-term impact of the child labor violations extended beyond the 32 documented child victims to reveal how meatpacking industry consolidation enables systematic exploitation. The Agriprocessors case demonstrated that when corporations can locate in small towns, employ vulnerable undocumented workers, and operate with minimal oversight, child labor violations become inevitable. The company filed for bankruptcy on November 5, 2008, with Sholom Rubashkin eventually receiving a 27-year prison sentence for financial fraud in 2010. However, President Donald Trump commuted Rubashkin’s sentence on December 20, 2017, following lobbying by supporters who characterized his punishment as excessive. The presidential clemency for an executive convicted in a case involving systematic child labor exploitation demonstrated how corporate leadership receives political protection while the child workers themselves—many deported to Guatemala—received no remediation, compensation, or justice for the dangerous conditions they endured.