On Abuse of Immigrants at Slaughterhouses

You may have heard about the 389 illegal immigrants and two supervisors arrested at a kosher meatpacking plant (AgriProcessors) on May 12. AgriProcessors was made infamous by the videos of kosher slaughter. Temple Grandin visited the plant in Iowa and said she was pleased with what she found back in 2006, shortly before the videos were filmed.

The supervisors arrested also worked in places called "Beef Kill" and "Poultry Kill." I didn't know beef could be killed.

Today's New York Times' "An Interpreter Speaking Up for Migrants" taught me a couple things about our justice system, mainly that interpreters aren't supposed to comment. The interpreter in question, Professor Erik Camayd-Freixas, broke the code and is speaking up about the events prior to the arrests of the illegal immigrants. You can see what he has to say here. It's all reminiscent of Fast Food Nation, and is just one more reason to avoid animal products.

The lack of respect for human and nonhuman life at AgriProcessors isn't all that surprising given the general atmosphere of disrespect for life that is a premise of a slaughterhouse, but that doesn't make the story any easier to take. If you're not familiar with the kosher slaughter, check out Jonathan Safran Foer's "If this is Kosher" (and also his Everything is Illuminated--the book as well as the film).