Small towns struggle to provide social services to immigrant meatpacking population

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Podcasts Take Two

Nov 11, 2013

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Small towns struggle to provide social services to immigrant meatpacking population

Thanks in part to the meat-packing industry, small, rural towns have become a key frontier. But these small towns struggle to provide the social services needed by such a diverse population.

In a Jan. 30, 2008, file photo a worker throws a piece of meat among cattle carcass scraps dropped into a truck at the Hallmark Meat Packing slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif.

Thanks in part to the meat-packing industry, small, rural towns have become a key frontier. But these small towns struggle to provide the social services needed by such a diverse population.

For centuries, immigrants in search of a better life have settled in America's largest cities.

Now, thanks in part to the meat-packing industry, small, rural towns have become a key frontier. But these small towns struggle to provide the social services needed by such a diverse population.

One that's largely invisible to most Americans. It's the subject of a new series called "In the Shadows of the Slaughterhouse." Reporter Abbie Fentress Swanson of Harvest Public Media has the first story.