Los Chileros

Green chile is a staple in New Mexican food. In fact, it's been called New Mexico's "sacred cow." It generates millions of dollars a year yet chileros--the people who care for and harvest chiles--live in dire poverty. During the harvest season, about 125 workers stay at the Sin Fronteras Organizing Project's shelter in El Paso, TX. They live in the shelter because, in spite of working full-time, they don't earn enough to rent an apartment. I spent seven weeks between July and October, 2013 staying in the shelter, photographing and interviewing workers. Workers start waking around midnight and walk to El Paso Street, where they'll wait, sometimes for as long as 2 hours, hoping to be hired by a labor contractor. Although the shelter is in El Paso, most of the work is in New Mexico, a 2 or 3 hour drive away. Workers are paid piece rate: they're paid only for what they pick. In 2012, the going rate was 85¢ for a bucket of chiles that weighed 20 pounds. Workers walk as fast as they can, or jog, between the chile plants and the crates where they'll dump their chiles. While the fastest workers may make as much as $60 or $70 a day, the majority of workers are making much less. After paying for food and water they'll buy in the fields, most are lucky to take home $20 or $25 a day.