A Midwestern Meatpacking Town Welcomes Immigrants
Meatpacking plants used to be located in urban centers like Kansas City and Chicago. Over the past few decades, many plants have moved to rural Midwestern towns, which have seen a huge influx of immigrants as a result. Yesterday, we reported on tiny Noel, Mo., which has struggled to help assimilate the newcomers who work at a large poultry plant. Today, we have this report from Garden City, Kans., a meatpacking town that embraces its new cultures.
The chemistry lab at Garden City Community College is buzzing, and Binh Hua and My Nguyen are at the front of the class. The two young women wear protective goggles, their long black hair pulled into ponytails, as they wait for the professor to bring the class to order.
These Vietnamese 18-year-olds have both benefited from the beef industry since their parents moved here to work in the huge Tyson Food, Inc., plant. Now they dream of computer and medical degrees as their parents do the hard work of turning animals into beef at a slaughterhouse on the outskirts of town. Both students graduated from high school in just three years and they're trying to earn associate degrees by next year.
"We really like to graduate early because we think high school wasn't challenging enough and we were looking for challenging courses and stuff —" Hua says.
"— And we get a head start in college," Nguyen adds.
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In A Small Missouri Town, Immigrants Turn To Schools For Help