Ep. 71 - Modern-day Slavery on South Georgia Farms

You’ll notice my tone is slightly different today and that’s due to the nature and seriousness of the topic I want to explore with you. Specifically, regarding the recently unsealed 54-count indictment against an organized crime syndicate in the southern U.S. relating to the horrible treatment of people they brought across the border to work on farms and who, subsequently were treated as slaves. If you saw my stories on Instagram this week you got to see my rant on this topic and, honestly, this story struck a real nerve with me, so I thought I would take the time to give it some attention here on the podcast. For those of you unaware of what I’m talking about, two dozen defendants have been indicted on federal conspiracy charges after a three-year investigation into a human smuggling and labor trafficking operation that brought workers from Mexico and Central America to work and live in brutal conditions on several South Georgia farms. Farm worker conditions is nothing new in the news. We’ve heard before of migrant workers who’ve come here illegally to work being subjected to horrible working conditions because there’s nobody to hold the employers accountable: long hours in scorching sun without breaks or enough water, no access to medical services, inability to get decent housing or a decent wage. The victims in these indictments suffered all that and more and what makes it worse is they were brought here legally, using a federal program that allows for temporary work visas for foreign agricultural workers on U.S. soil. But, no matter how they get here, the people who are responsible for harvesting much of what we eat here in this country are constantly facing brutal conditions and I want to take today’s episode to remind us all, including myself, what the unseen costs of our cheap food are and try to talk through what we can do about it.