A former job developer reveals that meatpacking recruiters would explicitly request workers of specific nationalities, such as Burmese refugees. This was based on a belief that they were more docile and harder working than others, creating a discriminatory hiring pipeline that treats people as commodities.

Contrary to common political narratives, undocumented immigrants are often a net positive for government finances. They are heavily documented for tax purposes (e.g., Social Security) and pay into these systems but are less likely to draw benefits, effectively subsidizing programs for citizens and creating a highly profitable workforce.

AI systems from companies like Meta and OpenAI rely on a vast, unseen workforce of data labelers in developing nations. These communities perform the crucial but low-paid labor that powers modern AI, yet they are often the most marginalized and least likely to benefit from the technology they help build.

The constant demand for labor at Greeley, Colorado's meatpacking plant has driven successive demographic transformations. The town shifted from primarily white, to white and Latino as the plant recruited from Mexico, and finally to a diverse international community as it began hiring refugees from Asia and Africa.

The historical impact of the 1904 novel reveals a lasting public bias. Sinclair aimed to expose brutal worker exploitation in meatpacking, but public outrage and subsequent regulation focused on unsanitary food practices. As he noted, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach."

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is almost entirely funded by application fees, not taxes. A portion of these fees, including those from H-1B visas, is distributed to agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to investigate visa abuse and fund enforcement operations.

The federal mandate for refugees to achieve economic self-sufficiency within three months creates immense pressure. This forces resettlement agencies to place vulnerable individuals into any available role, making high-turnover, hazardous industries like meatpacking a primary and exploitative employment channel.

Pressured by a three-month deadline for refugee self-sufficiency, caseworkers forge relationships with companies like Tyson Foods that are always hiring. They effectively begin "selling a product" by delivering a steady stream of vulnerable workers, prioritizing placement speed over the individual's well-being or career path.

Data from 2004-2023 reveals low unemployment in occupations that heavily utilize H-1B visas, such as tech and engineering. This suggests that foreign workers are filling a talent gap rather than displacing a large number of available American workers, challenging the narrative that immigration is a primary cause of job loss in these sectors.