No Equal Rights for Jews?

By Rashi Raices, Des Moines Register

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