ProPublica Reporting on Chinese Migrants & Illegal Grow Farms in Oklahoma
Immigrants & Oklahoma? You know ProPublica has caught my attention.
The title of the article is Escaping Oklahoma: A Worker’s Story From Inside an Illegal Marijuana Operation. It follows a Chinese national, Lin. Lin entered the United States without authorization in 2016, seeking asylum on the basis of religious persecution. He and his wife initially settled in New York. When work dried up during the pandemic, they headed West to work on farms.
They, and “several dozen” other Chinese laborers, ended up on an illegal marijuana farm in Oklahoma with suspected ties to Chinese organized crime. The farm was patrolled by armed guards who kept workers on site. The workers slept 20-30 a room with one bathroom and no AC.
When Lin wasn’t paid for his work, he confronted the farm’s manager. The manager responded by pointing an assault rifle in Lin’s face. Soon after, Lin and his wife fled the farm and the state. They relocated to New York. Lin reports that he has received “menacing calls” ever since, with his boss blaming him for “inciting labor conflicts at the farm and for a drug raid that shut it down in 2022.”
The farm has indeed been shut down, it’s owner prosecuted for “trafficking” (reporting is unclear if that’s drug or people).
Lin, ProPublica reports, is now a “legal U.S. resident,” though his path to that status is not reported.
This article is part of a larger ProPublica project called Fields of Green: Chinese Mafias and the U.S. Black Market for Marijuana. Other articles in the series include:
- A Diplomat’s Visits to Oklahoma Highlight Contacts Between Chinese Officials and Community Leaders Accused of Crimes
- A Marijuana Boom Led Her to Oklahoma. Then Anti-Drug Agents Seized Her Money and Raided Her Home.
- Jiaai Zeng Died Weeks After Starting Work at an Oklahoma Marijuana Farm. His Family Wants Answers.
- Gangsters, Money and Murder: How Chinese Organized Crime Is Dominating America’s Illegal Marijuana Market
-KitJ