Thread: Large numbers of Illegals Stayed During Hurricane Gustav

Latino workers decided to stay during Gustav

by Sarah Carr, The Times-Picayune
Monday September 15, 2008, 7:37 AM

For many Latino construction workers, the threat posed by Hurricane Gustav paled in comparison to the fear of getting caught and deported if they evacuated.

Local groups that work with Latino day laborers estimate that hundreds, if not thousands, of undocumented immigrants stayed put for Gustav or chose another unsafe option: piling into trucks and cars stuffed full of evacuees.

While the Latino community grew in the region after Hurricane Katrina, along with the boom in construction work, it's difficult to know how many illegal immigrants stayed in town for Gustav, partly because officials are unsure how many even live in New Orleans.

One Tulane University study estimated 5,000 to 7,000 illegal Hispanic workers came to the city after Katrina. Local community groups put that number much higher, saying the construction opportunities drew tens of thousands of day laborers born in countries such as Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

Even more workers arrived in the past week seeking jobs in the wake of Gustav, organizers report. If future evacuations are to succeed, officials must step up their efforts to assure these government-wary residents they won't be caught along evacuation routes and deported, experts say. The issue has taken on new urgency not only in Louisiana, but in Texas and other regions of the country where large numbers of undocumented workers live.

Earlier this summer, during an evacuation drill along the Texas-Mexico border, officials appeared to be checking evacuees' citizenship papers as they boarded buses, said Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Society.

Although the Department of Homeland Security assured that would not happen during a real evacuation, Martinez said her organization has requested a written statement explaining the department's policies.

'A lot of confusion'

As Texans started to evacuate this week in advance of Hurricane Ike, Martinez said undocumented workers remain conflicted.


"I'd say there is a lot of confusion right now, and that's definitely contributing to some reluctance to evacuate," she said.

In New Orleans, several illegal immigrants said they never considered fleeing Gustav in a government-sponsored bus -- often the safest option for low-income residents -- because buses and bus stations are infamous checkpoints used by immigration agents.

"Everyone knows Immigration is always at the Greyhound station," said Gerardo, an undocumented immigrant who, along with other workers interviewed, did not want his full name printed. Standing at the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, he pointed to the spot where an illegal immigrant used to sell tacos. Officials deported the woman a few months ago, he said, after a raid at the Greyhound bus station.

The day before Gustav made landfall, Gerardo hopped into a truck driven by another construction worker who had been drinking. When the truck got a flat tire, he caught another ride to Houston.

"I had a lot to lose going to another city without papers," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Jose, another illegal immigrant, did not take that chance. He stayed in New Orleans with his two sons, not even poking his head out of his house for days -- at least not until someone knocked on the door to say work was available.

"There should be an order that Immigration can't pick people up," Jose said, "so people don't die."

Word not getting around

The Department of Homeland Security did, in fact, clarify its position the weekend before Gustav, promising no immigration checkpoints would appear on evacuation or return routes, said Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But word did not seem to spread widely among Latino immigrants, or lessen their fears of using the government trains and buses.

"For people who are undocumented, traveling in the United States right now is very difficult," said Jacinta Gonzalez, a local organizer for the Congress of Day Laborers. "If someone doesn't go out of their way to ensure them they will be safe, they don't assume they will be."

Gonzalez added that "there were a large number of people who stayed in the city, and there were a large number who left at the last minute, without what I consider safe plans."

She and other advocates want city, state and Red Cross officials involved with evacuation efforts to make assurances similar to the Department of Homeland Security's, and to make them earlier, so immigrants will have time to plan safe evacuations.

Although New Orleans officials met repeatedly with advocates from organizations like Catholic Charities, Gonzalez pointed out that any promises of safety might fall on deaf ears unless immigrants hear and believe similar promises from authorities in towns hosting shelters.

Spending months of wages

Maria Jose Bermudez, a spokeswoman for the Hispanic Apostolate of Catholic Charities, said nearly all of the workers they had contact with evacuated, but most did not use the government-assisted plan. That meant they sometimes wiped out weeks or months of wages to pay for gas and other expenses.

A group of six Honduran day laborers living in Mid-City said they evacuated in crammed cars to Dallas at a cost of $600 each. With work being slow, that adds up to about a month's worth of wages. They relied on road maps supplied by Catholic Charities, but they wasted gas taking a long route home to steer clear of Lafayette, where they say many illegal immigrants are held in the parish jail before deportation.

Those in the group said they would not evacuate again, unless forced to, because they now can't come up with their rent money.

Bermudez said Hispanic Apostolate officials worked for two years in coordination with the city, Red Cross and local radio stations to try to spread the message that evacuating Latinos would be safe. She said she saw significant improvements in how things were handled compared with Katrina.

Adding to the confusion surrounding evacuation, border patrol officers whose normal duties include cracking down on illegal immigrants frequently assist with storm evacuation and return efforts.

Gerardo said the sight of border patrol officers on Interstate 10 during his drive back to New Orleans might discourage him from evacuating in the future.

Pleasant experience

In an ironic twist, the undocumented workers forced by National Guard and police to evacuate on government buses reported some of the best experiences. One beamed on Tuesday morning, showing off the business card a shelter volunteer gave him while he described trips to a public pool evacuees took every day.

By contrast, rumors floated that a group of Guatemalan men who stayed in the city for Gustav were picked up by authorities and deported.

"They've vanished," Gonzalez said.

But Carlos, a worker who cuts other men's hair for free while they wait for work on the Martin Luther King Boulevard neutral ground, said he probably won't evacuate next time. Authorities returned him safely to New Orleans from a shelter in Oklahoma. National Guard picked him up the day before the storm and brought him to a bus.

But Carlos said Border Patrol agents stopped a truck full of friends on I-10 on their way back to Baton Rouge after the storm. Authorities seized the truck, he added, and deported two of the men.

Alvarez-Montgomery denied the claim, saying there were "no checkpoints associated with any evacuation." Carlos, however, still doubts such pledges.

"That's why we don't leave," he said.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008 ... _stay.html

Let them out of the evacuation area but don't let them back in.

Dixie

The day before Gustav made landfall, Gerardo hopped into a truck driven by another construction worker who had been drinking. When the truck got a flat tire, he caught another ride to Houston.

Nice. Thank God this loser didn't kill another American by driving drunk.

E-VERIFY ALL I-9s NOW ICE

Why haven't I-9s and green cards been verified since 1986 by the local, state, and federal governments? The government has not been doing anything with I-9s.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Related post of I-9s abuse and no verifying:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-131673.html

Originally Posted by Dixie

Let them out of the evacuation area but don't let them back in.

Dixie

Once the danger is over, it's back to normal. To enter disaster areas you need to prove you live there. Anyone without ID will be not be allowed back in. Looters will be arrested.