German news magazine, Der Spiegel, has an in-depth look at the illegal immigrants that are the backbone of much of Europe's farming sector, ensuring that even Norway has the tomatoes, zucchini and strawberries throughout the winter.
Most of the workers on the plantations are illegal immigrants, those that have risked life and limb travelling to Spain from African coastal countries in overcrowded fishing boats. The promised land many of these migrants dreamed of remains far out of reach, as they sell themselves into modern day slavery to ensure that Europeans further up North have cheap unseasonal fruits and vegetables. The thousands of migrants needed to keep the multi-million Euro business alive are left to their own devices, building makeshift shelters from bits of plastic and tarp between the greenhouses, without access to clean water or sanitation. Under constant fear of expulsion, the migrants sometimes work twice the hours fixed in union contracts under difficult conditions, inhaling the pesticides they work with and living among the hazardous fumes. And that's not all: farming towns in Spain have become overwhelmed with migrants, making them easy targets for racist violence.
The article highlights villages like El Ejido, which have seen enormous growth over the past 20 years, as the plantations turned one of Spain's poorest regions into a boom area. The town now counts 76,000 inhabitants, but the addition of 80,000 illegal migrants to keep the production going has sparked racial hate crimes in recent months. In a recent incident, the police only stepped in once the angry mob threatned to lynch a group of Marrocan migrants. Mayor Juan Enciso Ruiz supports the overall sentiment: “Yes to immigrants, but outside the city.”
Thus, migrants remain relegated to the outskirts of society, modern-day slaves without rights subject to direct and indirect abuse.
