?A lot of abuse for little pay?: how US farming profits from exploitation and brutality

In June, a farm worker from Mexico, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, was transported through a trafficking network from Monterey to work on farms in Georgia.

They paid the traffickers 20,000 pesos, about $950, loaned from their mother, taking frequent trips back and forth to Monterey, before being told it was safe to leave. Then they were finally transported across the border.

Initially, the worker was told they would be working on a blueberry farm, but was sent to a corn-farming operation instead.

"We arrived at the house where we would live, and had to clean the rooms ourselves. There were roaches, spiders, mosquitoes, and the mattresses were covered in lice," the worker said. "The bathrooms and showers were dirty and clogged. The kitchen was horrible. We had no air conditioning in hot weather."

The worker began work daily at 3 or 4am and worked until 3 or 4pm with just one 15-minute lunch break, making just $225 for 15 days of work. They heard rumors that the contractor had several workers die under them. The worker claimed that Haitian immigrants were also brought into the same network.

After 20 days at the corn farm, the worker was sent to a cucumber warehouse where they weren't paid anything for their work, and then transferred to Texas before escaping the operation and returning to Mexico in July.

"There was a lot of abuse for little pay," the worker added. "It was a total fraud."