Hundreds of Chinese migrants who lost their jobs during the pandemic moved to a remote area of the Navajo Nation reservation in New Mexico for what they believed was legal agricultural work. Instead, they became entangled in a complex situation involving the US cannabis industry, pitting them against the local Native community.
Xia, a Chinese migrant in her 50s, accepted a job as a 'flower cutter' for $200 a day, expecting to work with roses. She and five other women drove from Los Angeles to Farmington, New Mexico, where they were housed in a motel and given piles of plant material to trim. The plants were actually marijuana, not roses.
Three days into the job, police raided the motel and arrested the workers. Xia was charged with multiple felonies, including trafficking and intent to distribute a controlled substance. She spent days in jail without a translator, fearing she would never see her family again.
The arrests were part of a larger crackdown on a massive marijuana farming operation in Shiprock, on the Navajo Nation. Hundreds of Asian migrant workers had been brought to the area to work on the farms, which were funded by Chinese-American investors seeking to recoup pandemic losses.
The situation created tension between the migrant workers and the Navajo community, who initially supported the hemp industry but later turned against it due to the illegal cannabis production. The complex and confusing laws governing the industry contributed to the conflict.
