Colorado Immigrants Faced with Hardships, Discrimination and Abuse

Recently many Haitian immigrants moved to Greeley Colorado with a promise of a better life, and a job from JBS’s meat packing plant. Instead, immigrants were given terrible living and working conditions.

Greeley is an attractive place for immigrants to move to because there are opportunities for employment as well as accessible services. The JBS meat packing plant is a popular place to work. The Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado is also located nearby in Evans, which provides resources for people looking to seek asylum in the area.

Usually, people from other countries are welcome here. UNC students especially seem to have a welcoming mindset towards the issue.

"I think it’s great. I think immigration allows people to make decisions about where they want to live and the life they want to live," said Kelsey Fisher, a freshman.

These opportunities don’t come without their struggles. As recently as this October, JBS employees accused the meat packing plant of abuse. The company allegedly recruited people from the Caribbean and surrounding areas, charged them a hefty hiring fee and then sent them to live in terrible living conditions in crowded motels such as the Rainbow Motel on 8th Avenue.

"Workers were being recruited via TikTok,” said Kim Cordova, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7. Many of these workers were from Hati and spoke Creole, which makes them more vulnerable to manipulation as they are less likely to fully understand English.

“One worker was taken to the hospital after a serious injury and left there, having to find his own way home. When he returned to work, a translator was put on the phone, and the worker was told that if he wanted his medical bills paid, he had to sign a document. But the document was actually a waiver, releasing the company from liability,” said Cordova.

 JBS was also investigated in 2020, when they did not close their plant despite an outbreak of COVID-19. According to Cordova, employees were encouraged to come to work despite being sick and multiple people died because of the outbreak.

In general, the job is very challenging and dangerous. Workers are expected to process cattle incredibly quickly by using sharp tools.

“It’s very fast and very dangerous—one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. They are exploiting these vulnerable workers, running the line at an extremely fast pace at the expense of the workers’ health, safety, and well-being,” said Cordova.

The UFCW is consistently working to get justice for the immigrants impacted by the wrongdoings of JBS. 

“Investigations are happening on a local and federal level. Most things are still confidential, but what I can say is one of the parties responsible on JBS’s side has been terminated from employment. We have been working with employees and lawyers and we really hope we can get justice,” said Matt Shechter, a UFCW employee.

Even without the abuse immigrants recruited by JBS faced, immigrating to the US is incredibly challenging. The application process to become a citizen takes anywhere from six to 24 months according to immigration help.org. To even get to that point, a “green card” is required which also takes months to receive with a fine attached on top of it all.

Because the process is so complicated and costly, many people come to the US illegally. According to the Center for Migration Studies, there are close to 11.7 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

When President Elect Donald Trump gets sworn into office, the national immigration policy will become harsher.

Trump has little tolerance for immigrants and has been known to make derogatory comments about them.

“The Democrats say, ‘Please don’t call them animals. They’re humans.’ I said, ‘No, they’re not humans, they’re not humans. They’re animals,’” Trump said.

With these ideals running the United States’s national immigration, concern will be raised for immigrants in the state of Colorado, which has been a safe place for immigrants to live until now.

Denver is considered a sanctuary city, which means undocumented Americans are allowed to reside in the city without being deported. This has created a welcoming environment in the state for immigrants.

That culture could go through a big change in the next four years. Cities such as Castle Rock have already announced that they will be adopting Trump's immigration policies, while other cities like Denver are planning on fighting back.