EXHIBIT 

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of the
Federal

 

 

June2008

1TB 3- INSIDE THIS EDITION 3' COVER STORY

Largest Ever Criminal Worksite Enforcement Operation Stretches Court

Early morning on April 18,
2008, an assistant US.
Attorney and an agent of the
US. immigration and Customs
Enforcement wheeled a
cart down the halls of the US.
Courthouse in the Northem
District of lowa in Cedar
Rapids. At the chambers of
Magistrate Judge Jon Scales.
they unloaded six ?le drawer-
size cardboard boxes ?lled with

 

nearly 700 arrest warrants, Clerk's office and probation oltice staff from the Northern District of town
Scales recalls' ?The Agent collaborate in the clerk?s ottice trailer on the fairgrounds of the National Cattle
would sign the complaint and Congress in Waterloo. lowa. The court relocated to the grounds in response
affidavit, hand massive wortcsite enforcement operation by the Department at Justice in
signed along with a warrant, May-

and it would then be re?led.
This went on for the better part of the day."

The warrants were to be executed in what would call the largest single-site raid of its kind
nationwide. On Monday, May 12. 2003. the Department of Justice reported that ICE had
executed a criminal search warrant at a meat-packing company in Postville, tows. ?for
evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and
other crimes. as well as a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States."

From the plant. more than 320
men and women were taken to
detention on the fairgrounds of
the National Cattle Congress in
nearby Waterloo. towa. The
same day. the US. District
Court for the Northem District of
Iowa announced they had
temporarily relocated a number
ofludges and other court
personnel and services to
Waterloo in response to the
anticipated arrest and

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prosecution of numerous illegal
aliens.

The decision to relocate was
made by Chief Judge Linda R.
Reade?but only after months
of planning.

was advised informally last
December that a major law
enforcement initiative was being
contemplated?although at that
time I was not given any
details," said Reade. "Ast
received more information-?

 

including that there might be
over 700 arrests?i talked with
Chief Judge Linda R. Reade held court in Courtroom Trailer Advance my fellow judges about how
planning prepared the noun for the 297 people who pied guitty and were best to handle the cases. We
sentenced by the court at Waterloo. developed checklists on initial

appearances, status
conferences, pleas and sentencings. We worded statements and instructions so they would
interpret well. The court de?nitely couldn't accommodate that number without planning."

At the Watertoo facility. the district court set up on the east side of the fairgrounds with two
separate double-wide trailers. each with a courtroom. The on-site Electric Park Ballroom
housed a third courtroom. ?The courtrooms were out?tted very professionally. with a 
raised Judge?s bench. a well, and seating for family members,? said Reade.

A week eariier. Clerk of Court
Robert Phelps had prepared the
infrastructure.

?in addition to the courtroom
trailers. complete with IT. sound
systems and recording
equipment, we had two single-
wide trailers for the clerk?s of?ce
and two single-wide trailers for
the probation of?ce." Phelps
said. ?The Administrative Of?ce
sent out an engineer. who

worked with us to set up and
con?gure a temporary secure Magistrate Judge Jon S. Scales in the Electric Park Ballroom Courtroom.

data communications connection Workdays torjudges and court staff often stretched past midnight.

from the fairgrounds to the court.
We had our electronic court schedules and dockets just like back home in Cedar Rapids."

 

The court was so well prepared
that when one unexpected
Ukrainian national requested a
Russian interpreter. within 20
minutes a suitable interpreter
was located in and a
Telephone interpreter Program
phone line was set up.

All of this was done at a very
high level of security.

 

"Our iT people weren't given all

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the details." said Reade. ?They
Clerk of Court Robert Phelps and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Wright were told it was to be a
coordinated casework In the predawn hours. The courtroom trailers are in the Continuity of Operations
background with the Judges' chambers to the left in the RV. Exercise and to plan to mova
the court technologically to an
offsite location. We asked our clerk?s office and our probation of?ce to plan for what they
needed to do their jobs offsite."

?We brought in 26 Spanish language interpreters from all over the country.? said Phelps.
?When we contacted them. we couldn?t tell them why they were coming, so we told them it
was a Continuity of Operations Exercise. ?Show up in Waterloo prepared to stay two weeks
and we?ll brief you then.?

The court's two active Article judges. Chief Judge Reade and Judge Mark W. Bennett. were
assisted by Judge Ralph Erickson from the District of North Dakota. who helped with cases for
two days. They handled the sentencings. initial appearances were handled by Reade. Chief
Magistrate Judge Paul A. Zoss, and Magistrate Judge Scoles.

Defendants were processed by ICE within a day or two. and the warrants were executed by
the U.S. Marshals Service, after which the detainees were brought in groups of 10 for their
initial appearances. Three judges rotated through, handling initial appearances and later. plea
changes. Many days for Judges and court staff stretched from 8 am. to midnight. Scotes left
the bench one night at 1 1:45 pm. only to be called at 4 am. to sign 65 new warrants. (The
U.S. Attorney had eartier roused Phelps with new requests for warrants.) "it made for a few
very long days." Scales remembers.

Despite the daunting numbers and long hours. the process was the same as though each
defendant were standing in the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids or Sioux City.

?We were sensitive to the fact that we saw to detainees at a time. We went through the same
process as we would with one defendant in the courtroom." said Scales. "We took special
care to explain the right to atrial and gave them the opportunity to ask questions. We took
pains to make sure they understood the consequences of a guilty plea, a sentencing. and a
judicial removal order."

Local federal defenders were augmented with 16 Criminal Justice Act attomeys. Normally.
panel attomeys would meet their clients at the initial appearance. but in these cases attorneys
were assigned to, and most met. their clients one or two hours before the initial appearances.
After detainees were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. attorneys went to
local facilities with assigned interpreters to meet with their clients and appeared with them at
their status conferences or plea changes and sentencing hearings as well.

According to Bob Teig. representative for the U.S. Attomey?s of?ce. 302 individuals were
charged. The majority of offenders were offered plea deals in which they will spend ?ve
months in jail. followed by supervised release and removal from the country. Offenders will
face additional charges as well as violation of their supervised release if they return to the U.S.
illegally.

In every one of the hundreds of cases. Chief Probation Of?cer Bob Askelson and probation
of?cers and staff ran criminal histories. checked identi?cation records. and then provided oral
reports to the court. When detainees moved from pretrial to their sentencing. Askelson's group
was there to prepare modi?ed presentence reports with sentencing guideline analysis and
judgments.

?We planned for 700 and prepared for that number." Askelson said. ?I?m proud of our staff.
We brought the same integrity to the process here that we would in the Cedar Rapids
courthouse."

The court ?nished its work at 6 pm. Thursday. May 22. in the end. 297 people pled guilty and
were sentenced by the court in Waterloo. Only ?ve cases were left to be resolved later in

Cedar Rapids.

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"We treated this relocation exercise like a large COOP exercise." said Phelps. "We'll be
following up with counsel, interpreters. and others who participated in the operation to ?ne-
tune our COOP planning."

?Everything was so well thought through.? said Reade. ?Clerk of Court Phelps. Probation
Chief Asketson. our lT people. and all our court staff made this a succesle off-site court
experience. When problems arose, they got together and improvised. I?m proud of every one
of them."

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