This article was produced in collaboration with Reveal. It may not be reproduced without express permission from FERN. If you are interested in republishing or reposting this article, please contact [email protected].
When we released this story, as a podcast and text feature, back in February, President Trump was threatening to rescind Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for more than 200,000 Haitians working in the U.S., and force them to return to Haiti, which has been consumed by gang violence and instability. FERN senior editor Ted Genoways investigated how JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, had come to rely heavily on those Haitian migrants and other refugees—a vulnerable but legal workforce—at its plant in Greeley, Colorado. His reporting shined a light on a burgeoning food economy in the United States, one that is shifting away from undocumented labor and relying on immigrant workers with legal, but often tenuous, status.
Despite a series of legal challenges, TPS for Haitians is now set to expire in February 2026, and JBS has already begun firing workers—as many as 400 in the last nine months, according to union officials. In this podcast update, produced in partnership with Reveal, Genoways describes a scramble by some Haitian workers to remain in the country, and JBS’s efforts to replace them with Somali refugees, a population whose TBS statues is still active.
Help us keep digging!
FERN is a nonprofit and relies on the generosity of our readers. Please consider making a donation to support our work.
Cancel monthly donations anytime.