A New Regime of Transnational Labor in the Meatpacking Industry: Haitian Refugees in North Carolina

• In Event: 1207 - Vulnerability, Exclusion, and Belonging among Refugees

Abstract

This paper deals with the incorporation of Haitian refugee labor into the meatpacking industry of North Carolina. First it provides an overview of the development of the meatpacking industry as a magnet for migrant labor. Then it goes on to explain how it became a source of jobs for Mexican and other Latino workers, including undocumented workers. After that it turns to explain how, after being targeted by immigration authorities, the industry recruited other sources of labor, who while not undocumented, where nevertheless quite susceptible to exploitation, such as refugees and others with a temporary legal presence in the country. Finally, it explains, with the aid of interviews that I carried out last year, how Haitians were recruited and incorporated into pork and poultry processing facilities in North Carolina and how their labor proves to be quite vulnerable to exploitation despite their “temporary protected” status.

Author

• Salvador Rangel, University of California at Santa Barbara