99% Invisible – "The New Jungle" (September 23, 2025)

Host: Roman Mars
Reporter: Esther Hoenig
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the hidden design behind the American meatpacking industry’s labor force, tracing the arc from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to the present day. Focusing on Greeley, Colorado—a quintessential meatpacking town—the episode examines how refugees, immigrants, and vulnerable populations have come to power a system that remains as reliant on cheap, invisible labor today as it was 120 years ago.

Episode Overview

• Purpose: To reveal how the U.S. meatpacking industry continuously fills dangerous, undesirable jobs by recruiting waves of immigrants and refugees, examining the historical, economic, and humanitarian systems that make this possible.
• Setting: Greeley, Colorado, home to JBS, the largest meatpacker in the U.S., and a microcosm reflecting broader industry and social trends.
• Key Question: How did meatpacking become a landing pad—and sometimes a trap—for America’s most vulnerable newcomers?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Greeley, Colorado: More Than Meets the Eye

• Stereotypes vs. Reality ([01:38])
  • Greeley is assumed to be a conservative, white, agricultural town, but is, in fact, highly diverse due to its role in meatpacking.
• Meet Mohammed: ([01:48-03:55])
  • Rohingya refugee, former rice farmer, arrives via UN program, quickly finds work at JBS without language skills or prior experience—unaware he’d be working in a slaughterhouse.

    Mohammed: "He only say, JBS, there's many different kind of jobs. Then you will do one of them…" ([03:46])

2. The Grueling Reality of Meatpacking Work

• Job Hazards: ([04:16-05:13])
  • Workers use sharp knives to break down up to 450 cows per hour; many suffer injuries or amputations—there are about two amputations a week in the industry.
  • Plants are always desperate to find new workers due to the physically punishing conditions and high turnover.
• Refugee Labor Pipeline: ([05:58])
  • Increasingly, companies rely on refugees who, through resettlement programs, end up in these perilous positions as their "shot at the American dream."

3. History Repeats: From ‘The Jungle’ to Now

• Upton Sinclair’s Legacy: ([06:29-07:42])

  • The Jungle exposed terrible conditions for immigrant workers in 1904 Chicago, leading to public outcry—over food safety, not worker exploitation.

    Roman Mars: "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach." ([07:14])

• Cycles of “Progress”: ([07:56-08:29])

  • Brief union-led improvements in the mid-20th century, then a retreat as companies relocated to rural America to cut costs and dodge unions/reporters.

• Recruitment of Immigrants: ([08:49])

  • Initial reliance on Mexican workers, then a shift to more diverse populations as local labor dried up.

4. The 2006 ICE Raids & Aftermath

• Swift Plant Raids: ([11:08-12:34])
  • ICE raids on December 12, 2006, led to the arrest of nearly 1,300 workers, 10% of the Swift workforce, abruptly causing a labor crisis.
  • Swift (later acquired by JBS) needed new workers, so they turned to federal refugee resettlement programs.

    Esther Hoenig: "Overnight, Swift lost about 10% of its workforce. Without enough people, some factories couldn't operate…" ([12:34])

5. How the U.S. Resettlement System Feeds Industry Needs

• Recruiting Refugees as a Labor Solution: ([17:19-18:16])

  • JBS and others proactively recruited refugees—especially from East Africa and Burma—offering bonuses and relocating them en masse to rural towns.

• Insufficient Services, Swift Integration: ([19:11-20:36])

  • Community support structures lagged behind, with most services geared toward Spanish speakers; new offices and nonprofits had to develop from scratch.

• Refugee Act of 1980 and "Economic Self-Sufficiency": ([21:21-22:37])

  • U.S. resettlement is designed to get refugees quickly off public support and into any available job, often meatpacking.

    Esther Hoenig: "We wanted them to lift themselves up by their bootstraps… the very first priority… was economic self sufficiency." ([22:11])

• Comparison to Canadian Model: ([23:31])

  • Unlike Canada’s year of support, U.S. refugees receive just three months before they must support themselves.

6. Caseworkers as Labor Brokers

• John Tabor’s Experience: ([24:15-28:14])

  • Former "job developer" describes the rush to get refugees (who often lack transferable skills) into entry-level positions.
  • Relationships with companies like Tyson became transactional; caseworkers matched "preferred" worker groups to employer specifications.

    John Tabor: "So like we were selling a product, really." ([26:54]) "The narrative that we're giving people these great opportunities, you know, like there's a dark side." ([28:35])

• Refugees’ Lack of Choices: ([28:42-29:18])

  • With few alternatives and high urgency, refugees stay in risky jobs even if injured or discriminated against.

7. Modern Greeley: Changing Demographics and Social Tensions

• Transformation of the Town: ([20:11-20:36], [31:26-32:07])
  • Greeley shifts from white, to white-and-Latino, to distinctly international. New businesses, religious institutions, and markets emerge.
• Discrimination and Resilience: ([32:07-32:46])
  • Instances of anti-Muslim sentiment, but also growing support networks and ESL programs.
  • Community leaders like Karim Abdulmanaf and organizations like the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado step in to help.

8. The Cycle Continues: New Arrival Populations

• Recent Arrivals & Uncertainty: ([34:48-36:30])
  • New groups from Haiti and Venezuela (via Temporary Protected Status) now fill the meatpacking jobs—and face abrupt policy changes.

    Karim Abdulmanaf: "TPS, the fact that the new just came out like minutes ago for sure next week, it's gonna be like overwhelming for them… what can I do?" ([36:13])

9. Structural Issues and the Future

• Meatpacking’s Dependency on the Vulnerable: ([36:30-37:55])

  • Refugee entries are paused, leading to renewed panic over labor shortages.

    Roman Mars: "This country depends on vulnerable people to do its dirtiest, most grueling work. We've just never wanted to see it." ([37:55])

• Broader Economic Reflection: ([37:14-37:34])

  • Industry and policymakers must reckon with the essential contributions of these populations amidst a hostile immigration climate.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach.” – Upton Sinclair, quoted by Roman Mars ([07:14])
• “The American machine just swallowed him up and there was never any breathing room.” – John Tabor ([28:14])
• “The narrative that we're giving people these great opportunities, you know, like there's a dark side.” – John Tabor ([28:35])
• “I cannot hold something as a firm way. So this is the problem.” – Mohammed, describing his hand injury from work ([30:43])
• “They have to do it because they have no other options here in the guerrilla.” – Karim Abdulmanaf on refugees working at JBS ([34:32])
• “This country depends on vulnerable people to do its dirtiest, most grueling work. We’ve just never wanted to see it.” – Roman Mars ([37:55])

Timestamp Map of Key Segments

• 01:38–03:55: Introduction to Greeley and Mohammed's story
• 04:16–05:58: Dangers of meatpacking and refugee labor pipeline
• 06:29–07:42: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and its legacy
• 08:49–09:39: Recruitment of immigrant workers in rural America
• 11:08–12:34: The 2006 Swift ICE raids and their impact
• 17:19–18:16: Refugee recruitment and new labor strategies
• 21:21–22:37: History and structure of the U.S. refugee resettlement system
• 24:15–28:14: John Tabor's experience as a job developer
• 31:26–32:07: Greeley’s population change post-2007, social tensions
• 34:48–36:30: New arrivals, TPS, ongoing labor and policy cycles
• 37:55: Conclusion: The “invisible” role of vulnerable workers

Conclusion

Tone & Message: The episode maintains a compassionate, investigative tone, blending storytelling with rigor and historical context. It peels back the surface of “invisible” design—here, not of objects or cities, but of a social and economic system. The listener is left with a lingering question: What does it mean to build an economy on unseen, sometimes unwanted, but utterly essential labor?

Final Reflection:
The evolution of Greeley, the hardship of workers like Mohammed, and the impersonal systems churning beneath it all form a narrative loop dating to Sinclair’s time. Despite changes in policy, demographics, and public attention, the underlying “design” remains—America’s least desirable jobs are performed by those with the fewest options, whose stories remain largely invisible.

(All advertisements, intro and outro, and non-content promotional material have been omitted from this summary.)