Vidalia, Michoacán

Never Mind the Law, Georgian Farmers Still Rely on Mexicans

Ripe cotton fields still line the old federal road that leads to Vidalia. The bygone slave quarters have rusted over or disappeared entirely. Today, it just takes one farmer, riding one tractor, to bring in the South’s most notorious crop. But in the outreaches of Toombs County, Georgia, the onion fields are still planted and harvested by hand. When the sun rises at 7:28 a.m., I’m standing on a 37-acre field watching a team of illegal immigrants start a third day of backbreaking work. Like most of the our state’s …