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  • Eduardo Leon, left, picks up his friend Henry (last name not given) and others on his way to work at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008. This morning, Leon had to go searching for Henry, who often oversleeps, still exhausted from his night shift at another factory.
  • Eduardo Leon dresses for work at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 12, 2008. Leon, who immigrated from Puebla state, Mexico to upstate New York to join his parents and siblings, works every day at the factory to support his wife who stays home while expecting a child.
  • Workers process the duck carcasses, removing the foie gras at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on Octoer 11, 2008. Mexican music booms from the stereo.
  • A worker pushes a cart down the aisle between the duck pens carrying buckets of grain used for force-feeding the birds at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008.
  • Eduardo Leon, a Mexican immigrant from Puebla now living in Swan Lake, stands in a passageway holding out the blade he uses to cut out the duck livers at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 12, 2008.
  • A traveling salesman sells Mexican food products, clothing and other items from his truck to residents at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008. Some of the workers and their families, practically all Mexican immigrants, live on the grounds of the factory in company provided housing; a small, isolated Mexican community flourishes in the Catskills.
  • Alfonzo Romero relaxes with his family outside his home at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008. The company provides free housing to some of its employees, particularly to those who work shifts around the clock force-feeding the ducks. Romero, originally from Puebla, came to the United States walking across the border, arriving in Ferndale to become one of the original four employees who started building the factory farm in 1989. His family has since joined him and the factory now employs about 120 workers (many from Puebla). Romero still does not speak any English.
  • Children play together outside their homes at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008.
  • Families crowd into a neighbor's house to feast and begin celebrating the Fiesta de la Hispanidad, commemorating the coronation of the Virgen de Guadalupe as queen of the hispanic world at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008.
  • A man watches the sun set from inside his home at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008.
  • A woman tenderly kisses a statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe during the Fiesta de la Hispanidad, commemorating the coronation of the Virgen de Guadalupe as queen of the hispanic world at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008. The shrine of balloons and flower in honor of Mexico's patron saint was built inside the factory.
  • A young boy leads the candle-lit procession down the road to the factory for the Fiesta de la Hispanidad, commemorating the coronation of the Virgen de Guadalupe as queen of the hispanic world at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Ferndale, New York on October 11, 2008.
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