The Israeli law provides citizenship to any Jew immigrating to the country. It's much like the asylum clause in U.S. immigration law, designed to offer refuge to Jews fleeing oppressive regimes. It's never been used to give haven to American criminals. The United States and Israel have an active extradition treaty. Routinely, accused criminals are sent from one country to another.
Op-Ed: Rejecting Bail Denies Equal Protection
American Jews, beware. If you run afoul of the Justice Department, your chances for bail are slim to none. That’s the new legal concept created by the office of U.S. Attorney Matt Dummermuth in northern Iowa. The policy singles out Jews as a special category to be denied bail due to Israel’s “Law of Return.”
The Israeli law provides citizenship to any Jew immigrating to the country. It’s much like the asylum clause in U.S. immigration law, designed to offer refuge to Jews fleeing oppressive regimes. It’s never been used to give haven to American criminals. The United States and Israel have an active extradition treaty. Routinely, accused criminals are sent from one country to another.
We have yet to see whether this policy of singling out Jews will apply only in this part of Iowa or whether it will spread across the country. Dummermuth constructed this legal theory to prevent bail for Sholom Rubashkin, who is accused of nonviolent crimes related to the meat plant in Postville. The U.S. Attorney argued in front of Federal Magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles that the Law of Return could provide a safe haven to Rubashkin.
French can run to France, Mexicans to Mexico. If you have a Russian heritage, there is little fear that you would be barred from returning to your ancestral homeland. Yet Jews in the eyes of the U.S. Attorney are a special category under the law when it comes to bail, posing a flight risk and meriting treatment different from all other citizens of the United States.
It wasn’t so long ago that the American legal system singled out Japanese Americans for special treatment under the law, when those American citizens were imprisoned during World War II based on their heritage. That episode is considered one the blackest moments of American jurisprudence.
The issues between the U.S. Attorney and Shalom Rubashkin have been brewing for a long time. If he wanted to run, he would have done it already. This is his second arrest and indictment. He already was wearing an ankle bracelet from the first arrest. Dummermuth knew where Rubashkin was and could have allowed him to surrender, as is common in such cases. Instead, Dummermuth chose shock and awe, rolling into Postville on Friday, ensuring Rubashkin would be held over the weekend and on the Jewish Sabbath.
The people of Postville know Rubashkin well. It’s clear to us he has no intention of evading prosecution. He wants his day in court so he can defend his reputation. He feels maligned, singled out for prosecution. What other case of illegal workers has prompted such aggressive prosecution?
That’s why more than 30 of us, including me, pledged our homes as bail. We’re willing to put our families’ security on the line for him.
Rubashkin and his wife surrendered their passports to the court some time ago. Still, the U.S. Attorney claims that Rubashkin is a flight risk. His evidence: He found a bag in Rubashkin’s bedroom with his kids’ passports and some cash. The Rubashkins have an autistic child who opens drawers and closets indiscriminately. They placed these documents in a secure place, away from his reach. Does Dummermuth think that Rubashkin could have traveled to Israel, which has the tightest airline security in the world, on the passport of a 10-year-old?
The fear of fleeing to Israel is a theory that’s not based on any legal precedent or evidence from the investigation. As a kid, I studied the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It promised equal protection under the law. How can we be sure of this in America today, and particularly in Iowa?
Rashi Raices, who has lived in Iowa for 13 years, is a principal of an elementary school in Postville. She can be contacted at gr8aba@yahoo.com
sam
You have some interesting arguments, but leave the 14th Amendment out of it – your analysis is all wrong on that issue.
Particularly with regard to your mention if the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII – the Supreme Court actually held in Koramatsu v.United States that the internment orders were constitutional under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause!!
Ultimately, Equal Protection analysis is about treating similarly situated people differently – a question of “why me and not him” instead of “you can’t do that at all.” Here, Rubashkin is different than a Mexican or a Russian. He is not an Israeli citizen – he is an American. Yet, Isreal is among those contries with a unique of return that would allow him to flee to Israel and seek immediate citizenship. That wouldn’t bar exradition, but it would slow down the process by years.
Ultimately, Rubashkin’s situtation and that of all Jews in unique. If the court choose to follow that precident – at least it won’t be an EP 14th Amendment issue.
shira
Doesn’t seem to have affected Madoff.
dovid
In 1997, a Montgomery Country (MD) teenager fled the United States to Israel, after the discovery of the dismembered and charred body of another Montgomery Country teen. This child was able to evade justice in the United States for exactly the reason stated the Rubashkin case — his family connections in Israel and the Law of Return.
He was never extradited to the United States.
To quote the secular saying “Once burnt, twice shy”
Chana
Not true. He was not returned because the U.S. uses capital punishment. This is not an analogous situation.
simcha
Tell the Judge that there is no way a father of 10 kids will flee to Israel, esp after all this time of being in jail…Ask any mother of a large family, what would they do??? They would kill him…so let him out!! His wife will assure he doesnt run!!!
Shlomo
An Obama DOJ is likely to reverse the position taken by the Bush US attorney in Iowa. So much for Bush as a friend of Lubavitch. All hype, no action!
And stop with the ridiculous kvetching.
Yonatan
To me the bigger question is why agri was shut down and the CEO jailed when other plants, (which were non-kosher)with even more illegal immigrants only faced fines? Why was there no concern on the impact of the raid on the entire town? And if someone does flee and evades prosecution, what does the government really lose? Most people would not get very far. They would surely leave a trail via credit cards, cell phones, etc. or they would put friends and relatives in the precarious spot of harboring a fugitive. Those who free and become fugitives live a life of fear of being caught. They can never relax.
Inda Know
To David and Chana;
Both wrong. He was not returned because he was already an Israeli citizen from birth. Israel will generally allow Israeli citizens to serve out a sentence in Israel. Israel will not recognize a citizenship (even under the law of return) which was obtained as part of a plan to evade prosecution. One who was a prior citizen (as Rubashkin is not) cannot benifit fron such treatment (as was not Eddy Anwar “Crazy Eddy”, who fled to Israel, assumed the name “Eddy Cohen” to obtain Israeli citizenship using the law of return, and was extradited back to the US anyway.)
Semite
From it’s beginings this was a case not ageinst an individual or his company but rather an industry that services a Jewish population that spans across the country.
It is a case against a company which services a consumer who keeps a kosher diet.
Dummermuth’s sensetivity toward religeon is nothing new.
dovid
@Inda Know
I do recall that now, but the problem still remains. Yeshiva World News is carrying the story of an Israeli woman abducting her US son (now age 5) from the United States three years ago. (http://www.ynetnews.com/art…)
In this case, the issue is not that she left the US illegally, although she did break US law by virtue of taking the child from the United States, but that she was able to successfully avoid extradition in Israel.