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In the NoCo
In The NoCo

A new report examines the lives of workers at a Greeley meatpacking plant

By In The NoCo,
Erin O'Toole, Brad Turner
Published January 31, 2025 at 5:35 AM MST
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The Rainbow Motel in Greeley, Colorado, with a neon sign in the shape and colors of a rainbow, and signs reading "motel" and "vacancy," pictured at dusk. The motel was used to house refugees from Haiti who had just arrived in Colorado to work at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley.
Mary Anne Andrei for Mother Jones and the Food & Environment Reporting Network
The Rainbow Motel, located near the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, at one point housed dozens of immigrant workers from Haiti and Benin, often with up to eight people per room. "The conditions were extremely tight; it was the dead of winter, and people felt sort of abandoned and stranded," says journalist Ted Genoways, whose audio investigation airs this weekend on Reveal.

JBS is one of the in the world. The company 鈥� which is headquartered in Greeley 鈥� reportedly earned $76 billion last year.

And the company relies on immigrant labor to keep their meatpacking plants, like the one in Greeley, operating.

A new story from the and the investigative journalism show offers a look at the community of immigrant workers at the Greeley plant. Many of them are Haitian, and many of them are here legally under what鈥檚 called TPS, or temporary protected status. Now, their future is uncertain as President Trump鈥檚 administration plans to take a .

Investigative journalist for Reveal. He spoke with Erin O鈥橳oole to share insights about the lives of JBS workers in Greeley, and the grueling work of slaughtering hundreds of cattle per hour on what Ted calls the 鈥渄isassembly line.鈥�

The Reveal episode hits podcast feeds this Saturday, and airs Sunday at 6:00 p.m. on KUNC.

A black & white photo of journalist and editor Ted Genoways. He wears a button-down shirt and has a trimmed beard.
Photo of Ted Genoways by Mary Anne Andrei
Ted Genoways, senior editor at the Food & Environment Reporting Network, has covered the meatpacking industry for over a decade.

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In The NoCo ImmigrantsJBS USAInvestigative Journalism
In The NoCo
KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.
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Erin O'Toole
As the host of KUNC鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.
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Brad Turner
Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS 暗黑爆料hour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.
See stories by Brad Turner