Gold Rush in post-Katrina New Orleans!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

NEW ORLEANS — As the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina receded in September, roads filled with residents leaving the city, their cars, SUVs and moving vans jammed with what they had salvaged of their lives.

But another mass movement was taking place on the other sides of the highways.

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Thousands of men from Mexico and Central America were driving into the city. Word had spread throughout the Latino immigrant diaspora in America that the city had plenty of work, construction wages had doubled to $16 an hour and no one was asking for papers.

"It was like a Gold Rush," said Oscar Calanche, a Guatemalan immigrant who lived in New Orleans before the storm and returned as soon as the waters receded. "In one car there'd be three up front and three or four in the back, with suitcases and tools on top. It looked like a river of people from our countries."

Latino workers have gutted, roofed and painted houses and hauled away garbage, debris and downed trees. Undocumented workers have installed trailers to house returning evacuees at New Orleans City Park, their pay coming from FEMA subcontractors.

"It's all illegals doing this work," said Rey Mendez, a FEMA trailer subcontractor from Honduras.

No one knows how many Latino immigrants are here, but John Logan, a Brown University demographer who has studied the city since Katrina, says "there must be 10,000 to 20,000 immigrant workers in the region by now, and the number is going to grow."

As the Senate debates new immigration laws and marchers demonstrate across the country, these immigrants offer another reminder of the country's reliance on undocumented labor from Latin America.

As New Orleans redefines itself after Katrina, the influx of large numbers of Latino immigrants is another jolt for a city that has historically thought of itself as black and white.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...-home-headlines

[Mirorgate 0]

So, FEMA budget is set in Billions, these guys get dbl normal to $16/hr.... who again is makin the money ..??

That is a major issue that I have with hiring of Illegal aliens.... the pay sucks in comparison along with no insurance etc..... and the Gov'ment here is sponsoring them in this particular case... "we dont need no papers" mentality. So second questions.. who is our gov'ment representing?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I had a friend making $350 per diem (tax free) 7 days a week plus his hourly rate and free food. He was making sure haz-mat wasn't being loaded into garbage trucks.

Edited April 4, 2006 by rch99

[almaty 19]

so, is there a lack of interest amoung u.s workers that they have to use an outside workforce?

[Laveau 67]

I grew up in N.O.but hadn't been back for a visit inabout eight years. I visited N.O. for St. Patrick's day weekend this year and the number of Hispanics, Latinos...whatever was one of the first things I noticed. My brother and I didn't expect to see that so that was a major topic of conversation (our Dad was the only Mexican WE knew in the city growing up...LOL). I also noted a fair number of short men with obvious "indio" faces among the crowds in the clubs in the French Quarter just meekly standing around...talked with two ofthem with my broken Spanish. Anyway, interesting...

btw, the French Quarter still rocks!