The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Mexican workers" ...
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New Orleans Now: Immigrants, Labor Rights and the Human Cost of Rebuilding and American City- Part 1
"An in-depth report on the variety of human rights, labor rights, health care and advocacy issues surrounding the treatment of immigrant and migrant workers in Post-Katrina New Orleans."
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; Mexican; spanish; African-American; General Robert E. Lee Circle; New Worker Center for Racial Justice; Common Ground Health Clinic; health care
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Sold in the U.S.A.
An employment agency in Chicago is helping recruit Mexicans to jobs in Chinese restaurants, where they are promised "housing, food, transportation and overtime." But these places more often are havens for worker abuse as the employees are locked in rooms at night and not allowed to leave after working 12-hour shifts. Using the story of Argentine Ricardo Vaisaga's abuse at Szechwan Garden in Greenwood, Ind. as a springboard, the Chicago reporter examines this issue.
Tags: Human trafficking; employment agencies; workers' rights; Chinese restaurants; worker mistreatment; worker abuse
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"Identities for Sale"
This segment tells the story of Mexican nationals buying stolen identities on the black market and proceeding to the U.S. to find work. 60 Minutes II then shows a factory in Nebraska where the illegal workers find jobs.
Tags: Illegal immigration; INS; stolen identities; black market; low wage workers; poverty
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Mexico: A Death in the Desert
LoMonaco and Spicuzza follow the story of Matias Garcia, a chili pepper farmer from Oaxaca, Mexico, who died in the Arizona desert after he crossed the border trying to find work. His family survived the journey, and in this story, they talk about their experience and the ordeals faced by thousands of other migrant workers.
Tags: Mexican migrant workers; Arizona desert; border crossing; Mexican Consulate; Border Patrol
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America's border: Who left the door open?
This investigation found that the borders of the United States, rather than becoming more secure since 9/11, have become more porous. Time estimates that the number of illegal aliens coming into the US in 2004 will total 3 million, the largest wave since 2001 and about triple the number of legal immigrants. Politicians are dodging the issue of fixing it because the supply of cheap labor helps keep down the cost of goods and services. Many big companies rally against the enforcement of laws that would shut down their supply of illegal workers.
Tags: immigration; illegal immigration; Mexican border; illegal immigrants; cheap labor
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Dying to work
This story looks at the high number of Mexican-born workers that get killed working in heavy industries. The story focuses on Mexican workers that have fatal accidents almost four times more as compared to American workers. As the reporters found out many of these deaths was mainly due to the fact the Mexicans did not speak English or did not go into treatment since they were illegally in the country.
Tags: Mexican immigrants; illegal immigrants; cheap labor; Mexican workers; OSHA; U.S. Department of Labor; worker death rates
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The Shadow People
In the midst of rapid immigration to the Hoosiers state, The Indianapolis Eye discovers that all's not well with the teeming Hispanic population who come from distant places to settle down here for menial jobs. The Eye reveals that billions of dollars are being taken away from the paycheks in taxes and social security of the "shadow people" and not attributed to them. In 2000 the amount deducted from illegal workers' payrolls touched nearly $ 49 billion without being attributed to them.l
Tags: Mexican; hispanics; social security
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Building Homes: Building Problems
"A yearlong investigation by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-NewsChannel 2 into new-housing construction in the region uncovered a systemic lack of quality control by builders who are producing too many homes too fast, with not enough trained workers and inadequate oversight." The investigation consisted in a survey of new home construction in the state of Florida and the inspection of 406 homes built in 2001, that were randomly selected from the 18,000 new homes sold in Central Florida that year done by engineering students at the University of Central Florida. "The reporting attributed the cause to the construction of too many homes too quickly, by a poorly trained and supervised work force dominated by illegal migrants, with inadequate oversight by regulators."
Tags: building; homes; construction; Latino; Hispanic; immigrants; illegal; inspection; workers; migrants; Florida; subcontractors; Mexicans; engineering; homeowner; builder; CAR
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American Dreams
"Each year, hundreds of non-English speaking Mexican men and women are recruited by one of the largest landscaping corporations in the U.S., Torre & Bruglio of Pontiac, MI. T&B brings them in the U.S. under the special federal 'Guestworker' program to live and work in suburban Detroit for eight months. They are promised good housing and wages of $9 to $12 and hour to trim shrubs and cut grass --a fortune for most, who live in a country where the minimum wage is $5 a day, if they can find work." This report shows how these people were living in dangerous and deplorable houses, with major health code and zoning violations. The reporters also found that T&B would make all kinds of deductions from their salaries to pay for rent, refrigerators, furniture, television sets, uniforms, boots and equipment necessary to perform the work they were hired for. They also found that these workers were making less than minimum wage. All this on top of several violations of federal labor law.
Tags: Mexican workers; federal labor law; illegal deductions; fraud; Torre & Bruglio; Michigan; Detroit; TAPE; TV; TRANSCRIPT
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Una Vida Mejor
The Times looks at Mexican immigrant workers and the connection between Palomas Mexico and a fishing village in North Carolina.
Tags: immigrant workers; mexico