Large numbers of migrants from China are crossing into the U.S. and finding work on marijuana farms. Some of the businesses are accused of exploiting workers and violating state growing rules.
Last summer, New Mexico state special agents inspecting a farm found thousands more cannabis plants than state laws allow. Then on subsequent visits, they made another unexpected discovery: dozens of underfed, shell-shocked Chinese workers.
An NPR investigation into a cluster of farms, which the industry calls cannabis “grow” operations, in New Mexico found businesses that employ and are managed and funded largely by Chinese people. They’re seeking opportunities in a flourishing U.S. cannabis market after the coronavirus pandemic led to a global economic crisis. But some of the businesses have run afoul of the law, even as states such as New Mexico have legalized marijuana.
"There was one influencer who kept messaging me his pay stubs in California showing how he was making 4-, sometimes $5,000 a month and telling me how easy it was," L. says. He got in contact with an agent who promised to help him get to the U.S., or"walk the line," to the U.S.-Mexico border. First, he flew to Turkey, then Ecuador.
"The farm said it would cover food and shelter, so you could save all your wages," a Bliss Farm worker, from China's northern province of Shenyang, told NPR."But the farm was just a big dirt field." He also requested anonymity because he is applying for asylum in the U.S. and fears being sent back to China.
L. and two other workers NPR interviewed were among those found at the farm. They've applied for asylum in the U.S. and their cases are pending.Immigrants from Ecuador warm themselves after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on March 6, in Campo, Calif. Migrants from Ecuador, China, Georgia and other nations waited for U.S. Border Patrol agents to collect them to process asylum claims.Immigrants from Ecuador warm themselves after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on March 6, in Campo, Calif.
In 2022, Hao and her husband paid another $300,000 to buy a plot of land in neighboring Oklahoma in a joint purchase with another recent emigrant from China. She convinced them that setting up greenhouses to grow marijuana there would be even more lucrative than in New Mexico.
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