Latino USA Folgen

Over 300,000 students in the U.S. migrate every year to work in agriculture, from spring to fall. At a high school in South Texas, when these students return, they gather at the Migrant Student Club to discuss their experiences and get support from a migrant student counselor. At a special gathering of the club we met Reyes, who started picking asparagus in Michigan to help support his family when he was 9 years old. And over the course of his last semester of school, we follow him as he works to graduate, financially support his family, and deal with an unexpected twist: the pandemic.

The Puerto Rican population living in the United States is largely concentrated in New York, New Jersey, and Florida — all of which are regions hit hard by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. An investigation by the Puerto Rico-based Center for Investigative Journalism (or CPI in Spanish) found that stateside Puerto Rican communities live in areas that are at the highest risk of infection and death by COVID-19, a vulnerable position only compounded by factors such as poverty, high unemployment rates, English-language barriers, and lack of health care and insurance. On this episode of Latino USA, CPI reporters Vanessa Colón Almenas and Coral Murphy break down their findings.

Maira Mendez's parents work at a massive pork processing plant in Nebraska. Last March, as meatpacking plants across the nation quickly became invisible hotspots for the coronavirus, it became clear to her that the plant, owned by Smithfield Foods, wasn't able to ensure social distancing or provide enough protective equipment. Maira was alarmed at the conditions—and that workers found it difficult to speak up. So she became part of a group called the "The Children of Smithfield," joining other family members of meatpacking workers, to begin calling for action from the plant and the state.