Support WBUR
Migrant workers ensnared in 'slavery' scheme on American farms

The H-2A visa is supposed to be a win-win. Migrant farmworkers can get a job in the U.S. and support their families back home. Meanwhile, American farms get enough workers to tend their fields without hiring people without legal status.
But a federal investigation known as Operation Blooming Onion exposed widespread abuses of H-2A workers across Georgia, ranging from wage theft to sexual abuse. One judge even referred to what was happening as modern-day slavery.
Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with ProPublica reporter Max Blau.
This segment aired on September 16, 2025.