"Each defendant was provided a criminal defense attorney, and it was up to those defense attorneys to ensure due process," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said.
But other lawmakers and attorneys have said the conditions set up by the Justice Department made adequate representation all but impossible.
Justice Department lawyers gave the workers seven days to accept a plea bargain that a "majority of them didn't understand," said Erik Camayd-Freixas, a translator for many of the workers.
The time pressures meant that lawyers spent an hour or less with individual clients and had little time to formulate strategies or objections, said Robert Rigg, a professor at Drake University Law School in Des Moines.
Nearly 400 workers were arrested, and more than 300 were charged. All but a few were sentenced by May 22, eight business days after the raid.
Lawmakers also have asked why only two managers had been arrested and have questioned whether the raid will affect an ongoing Department of Labor investigation of possible violations at the Agriprocessors plant, including alleged child labor and sexual abuse.
Berry, of the U.S. attorney's office, said scripts were commonplace for lawyers and judges to keep track of complicated issues.
He said he did not know who had assembled the manuals or who determined the ratio of lawyers to workers.
Berry refused to answer questions about who imposed the seven-day limit for workers to decide on guilty pleas or why, saying they touched on an ongoing investigation.
But he said the proceedings did not violate due process.
"The defendants all had qualified court-appointed federal counsel," Berry said.
"They had judges take their guilty pleas and ascertain their pleas were knowing and voluntary."
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nicole.gaouette@latimes.com
