Rachid’s Journey: How Our Food System Exploits ‘Illegal’ Migration

Every year, tens of thousands of migrants arrive in southern Spain to work in the plastic greenhouses of Europe. This is the story of one of them.

© Neal Haddaway

Rachid* stepped off the bus two hours before sunrise. The air was cold, clouds hanging low across the sky pressing down on him and leaving him feeling suffocated. He got his bearings and found his next bus stop, a local service taking him to his final location. It had taken him 50 days. Now, he was almost there — his friends waited for him with the promise of a hot shower, coffee, and safety.

Since arriving in Grenoble several days earlier he had been alone — the friends he made on his journey from Istanbul seven weeks earlier had gone separate ways, and he was left alone again for the final leg of his journey, bored and anxious for his journey to end. This time he was taking public transport — the risk of arrest and deportation in southern France and Spain was low. The days of hiding indoors and sneaking across borders were behind him. He had no idea what to expect, but knew that he had to do whatever it takes to make this work — it had cost him everything to make it this far, and it had to work.