Essential Estrogen

The criminal processing of the more than 300 detainees from the May 12 immigration raid at Agriprocessors in Postville continues today, but already 85 people made plea deals to lesser charges and were sentenced Monday.

The court day held in temporary facilities at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo was long -- beginning at 8 a.m. and not reaching a recess for the night until nearly 9 p.m. Detainees, many of them charged with aggravated identity theft, pleaded guilty to lesser charges in order to avoid a two-year stint in prison.

A total of 77 defendants were sentenced to prison after they pleaded guilty to using false identification to obtain employment and admitted they used identification belonging to another person. Eight others were sentenced to probation after they pleaded guilty to using a false identification to obtain employment that did not belong to an actual person.

All 85 admitted that they were in the United States illegally. Those sentenced to prison received five months' incarceration and three additional years of supervised release. All detainees sentenced on Monday face immediate removal from the country following their incarceration. The eight individuals given probation were sentenced to five years.

"This is the greatest number of defendants ever to plead guilty and be sentenced in one day in the Northern District of Iowa," said Matt Dummermuth, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. "Because of a special early disposition program approved by the Department of Justice, we have been able to handle this large volume of cases in a relatively short period of time."

Of those sentenced on Monday, seven were originally from Mexico. All others sentenced were originally from Guatemala.

If charges are filed against Agriprocessors management, the five-month prison sentences given to the former employers do allow for those accused to perhaps remain in the country long enough to testify.

Additional hearings are scheduled through Thursday. Those sentenced to prison continue to be held in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Office. Individuals sentenced to probation will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials for nearly immediate removal from the country. The actual date of removal, according to Department of Homeland Security spokesman Tim Counts, will vary in each individual circumstance. Some could leave today, but all should be out of the country by the end of the week.