Thread: Coast Hispanics double after Katrina

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs. ... /608200390
August 20, 2006

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Coast Hispanics double after Katrina

By Julie Goodman
jgoodman@clarionledger.com



Pat Sullivan/Special to The Clarion-Ledger

The Rev. Sally Bevill greets a child outside apartments near Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. Bevill coordinates Hispanic/Latino Ministries for the Seashore District of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church.

BILOXI — Hurricane Katrina dramatically changed the look of coastal cities as it wreaked havoc on buildings and homes, but its destruction also altered the cultural landscape with a force of Hispanic immigrants setting up "tent cities" and seeking post-storm labor.

Now, these immigrants are looking beyond their short-term goals: They are anticipating the rise of a permanent Latino society in coastal Mississippi. And those who settle have the potential to propel changes on the Gulf Coast in law enforcement, politics and education.



While there is no official count of the growth, advocates estimate the coastal Hispanic population has at least doubled, from a prestorm count of about 15,000 to 30,000 or 40,000 today. One advocate estimates about 85 percent are undocumented, or illegal.

The U.S. Census Bureau, which combines estimates for the three hardest-hit coastal counties, says the Hispanic population there has dropped from 2.1 percent to 1.6 percent, or from 7,628 to 4,849. But its profile only goes through December of last year and doesn't take into account immigrants who settled in Mississippi this year.

The Hispanics are from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Argentina and Puerto Rico. Some have lived in the United States for years. Others have come to the country for the first time.

There are small signs of culture change - such as the arrival of more fresh beans and jalapenos at Wal-Mart - and there could be a proliferation of Hispanic-owned businesses, Spanish-speaking congregations, Latino neighborhoods and bilingual classrooms.

Established Latino business owners say they are seeing an increase in patrons and expect the new immigrants eventually to follow in their footsteps.

For Wilbur Herrera, a Honduras immigrant who moved to Mississippi for work about two months after the Aug. 29 storm, life is fraught with worry. He frets over whether he'll get health insurance, whether he'll get paid for his work and whether he'll get work at all.

But he hopes to change all that.

"In 10 years, I'd like to have my own small company, so my family can work for me," said Herrera, 24, standing outside a crowded apartment complex in the shadow of Keesler Air Force Base.

But the worry that drives Herrera to want his own business propels Vidal Perez, a Mexican immigrant doing carpentry work on the Coast, to want to go home.

Coastal residents acknowledge the need for these immigrant workers to help rebuild but just as quickly say they want them to obtain legal documentation or go home.

Latino workers complain of being cheated of wages and face the fear of being robbed.

Illegal immigrants do not have the required paperwork to open checking accounts to deposit their money, so they often end up carrying cash - a habit known to criminals. And walking is often their main mode of transportation.

Legal or not, many complain of being the victims of crimes, sometimes violent ones.

On a recent Friday night, Perez began walking toward the casinos in Biloxi after drinking a few beers.

It was very dark, he recalls.

He said two men came toward him and demanded his money. When he said he didn't bring any, they picked him up and threw him down, he said.

Perez, 40, sits on the porch of his boss' Biloxi home, tears coming to his eyes as he tells what happened next: "They took off my shoes and socks. They took a cigarette lighter and held it to my feet. They said, 'I know you brought your money.' "

As they burned his feet, he took out the $350 he had stashed in his underwear and gave it to them. "I came home and started taking care of my feet," he said, showing the wounds on the bottom of three toes.

"I'm just very angry, very angry," he said. "I just came to work. I wasn't looking for any problems."

Perez said he planned to return home soon.

Howard Jones, a Biloxi construction worker who has toiled alongside Hispanic laborers, said, if it wasn't for immigrants, the Coast would not have made the strides it has. "They come down in numbers, and they do good work," said Jones, 36.

But his enthusiasm wanes when talk turns to the workers staying.

"I'm glad they're here, but in a way, a lot of us wish they'd go home. ... They're changing the Coast," he said.

Graydon Bates of D'Iberville, superintendent for a private construction company, said he's OK with the immigrants staying - "as long as they're legal, as long as they pay taxes."

"They're registering kids in school; we're doing basically a welfare system - they're taking over our goodies, so to speak, and not giving anything in return."

Bates acknowledges some of the immigrants he depends on for labor could be illegal. Companies are not supposed to hire illegal immigrants, but it happens, he says. "They can show me a green card, I don't know any better. How do I check that out?"

The Rev. Sally Bevill, seashore district coordinator for Hispanic/Latino Ministries of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church, recently moved to the Coast to help the rapidly expanding community and arm the population with everything from language skills to school supplies.

The ministry is the second major immigrant advocacy force to set up on the Coast. The Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance expanded its coastal services to assist a heavy stream of immigrants at its new office in Biloxi.

Bevill worries the Coast may have a breaking point, that anti-immigrant sentiments will get worse in the years to come. What will happen, for example, when these immigrants do bring over their families, the health-care system becomes more strained and their children fill the classrooms?

"And we know that day's going to come," she told a group of volunteers recently. "Right now, no, because there's such a huge need for labor. But the day is coming."

A big problem remains: worker exploitation. Immigrants, doing labor-intensive and sometimes unpleasant work for contractors, are left without payment.

Bevill says workers should always write down the license tag number of the person who drops them off at the work site and the address of the site. If they don't know the address, they should write down directions. She advises them to keep a log of hours they worked, all as a way to go after "fly-by-night" contractors who disappear without paying workers.

The work for advocates seems endless: Does the new population need help registering their children for school? Do they know to register their children for school? Will there be affordable housing? How will they address the inevitable animosity and tension that comes with their arrival?

A big part of Bevill's work is advising immigrants what not to do - that is, how to avoid attracting the attention of the police. She says they should not drive around with a car window smashed out. They shouldn't congregate outside their apartment complex to drink. At complexes crowded with immigrants, landlords already are starting to react.

Perez, who plans to return to Mexico, says he worries about the fate of those who stay. "I pray for the sick, for everybody that's driving and for those who have problems with the police, and I pray for my family," he said. "All I can say is I hope God helps us all."

You can't have it both ways What is the truth? Are there enough American workers to rebuild or not? Or does it come down to wanting cheap labor and greater profits. We want them here but after the work is complete, we want them to go home. That's like feeding a stray cat and then expecting it to leave. People in the gulf coast states, you reap what you sow