Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Workin' in New Orleans

Latin American immigrants -- with and without papers -- come here to do work Americans won't do, and many of them get screwed over by shady employers.

This time it's not Texas or California or Florida, but the Crescent City, where the Dallas Morning News reports Latinos might comprise one-fifth of New Orleans' population after Hurricane Katrina:
In New Orleans, as in other cities, Latin migrants can be found in some of the most menial jobs. Yet even as employers readily snap up the new workforce in a city that has lost two-thirds of its population, some politicians and residents decry the arrivals as an economic threat.

And, like elsewhere, many encounter poor working conditions, get gouged for housing and endure mistreatment from bosses who stiff workers. There are some worker advocate groups in New Orleans -- the National Immigration Law Center and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network have people in the city -- but it sounds like these immigrants really have it tough in what the DMN headline calls a "Wild West" town.

Of course, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin doesn't help with by wondering how to "stop New Orleans from being overrun by Mexican workers" back in October. His remarks on Martin Luther King Day that "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be." convey the message that New Orleans doesn't want Hispanic immigrants.

Meanwhile, these workers are busting their asses to rebuild his city. Some gratitude.

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