Thread: The New Latin Quarter

This is not surprising being printed in the Wall Street Journal.
~~~

The New Latin Quarter
By MARIO VILLARREAL and DANIEL M. ROTHSCHILD
August 28, 2007; Page A12

New Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast two years ago tomorrow, officials asked for help to rebuild damaged communities. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers, from churches, colleges, corporations and civic organizations responded. But one group has received little attention for the big role that it is playing: Immigrant Latinos.

Shortly after Katrina hit, while the majority of the city's residents were still in exile and despite inhospitable conditions, a stream of Latino workers and entrepreneurs poured into New Orleans. They were followed by friends and family. There are now perhaps 100,000 Latinos in the New Orleans area, although nobody knows for sure.

Pundits began to speculate on what the influx would mean. Just weeks after Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin asked, "How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?"

Critics generally fall into two camps. The first believes that the immigrant Latinos in New Orleans are ignorant, helpless and in need of protection. The second maintains that they are stealing jobs, sponging off of welfare and crippling the city's fragile infrastructure. Neither claim is true. Out of our surveys and interviews with Latino workers in the post-Katrina New Orleans area, we see a microcosm of immigration and immigrants generally: self-sufficient, hard-working, entrepreneurial, law-abiding people simply trying to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Take Lucy (a pseudonym), who came to New Orleans in late 2005 from Michigan, where she had lived since leaving her native Guatemala 12 years earlier. She worked in demolition, cleaning, roofing and construction. After four months and a minor accident, she bought two coolers and an industrial coffee maker and began selling breakfast out of the back of her Ford Fiesta.

To be sure, most of the Latinos who arrived after Katrina are probably undocumented. But what of it? There is widespread bipartisan agreement in Washington and Baton Rouge that the recovery efforts are too slow. Does it really matter who does the work, as long as it gets done -- and quickly?

There is little evidence that these immigrants are the scroungers or welfare cheats their detractors claim. They came here for one reason: jobs. As one said to us, "I do not need help. I need a job, that's all I need." And they plan to stay, as many people told us, "as long as there is work to do."

Nor is there evidence that they are taking jobs from native New Orleanians. As of April, the last month for which data are available, unemployment in Orleans Parish was 4.0%, compared with 4.5% nationwide. By comparison, in July 2005, the Orleans Parish unemployment rate was 7%, two percentage points above the national figure.

Moreover, the Latino immigrants in New Orleans are not merely doing construction. They're also opening stores and restaurants, breathing economic vitality into a city still badly in need of a boost.

St. Claude Avenue, one of the two main drags through the Lower Ninth Ward, remains close to deserted, with only perhaps a half-dozen businesses open. But with its spray-painted sign and impressive selection of Latino groceries, soft drinks, phone cards and compact discs, Tienda Latina (essentially, "Latin Store") is bringing commerce back into the most devastated neighborhood in New Orleans. Its customers, as might be expected, are mostly Latino, although a handful of Anglos come through as well. It was the first store between the Industrial Canal and St. Bernard Parish to reopen.

Loncheras, or "taco trucks," are everywhere, although Jefferson Parish officials have banned them from their suburban community on (dubious) health grounds. Orleans Parish officials have been considering doing the same, although the chief proponent of the ban, Councilman Oliver Thomas, resigned earlier this month after pleading guilty to accepting a bribe.

Tony Osorio came from Houston in September 2005 with his lonchera. A year later, he turned his profits into a fleet of four loncheras and a Mexican restaurant in St. Bernard Parish, which he bought for $120,000 cash on the barrel. This is the stuff from which communities rebuild.

Whether doing temporary construction work or settling into the community and opening businesses, Latinos are playing a critical role in rebuilding New Orleans. The days are long, the work is hard, and the living conditions are frequently trying. But the work is getting done. People are moving back. Businesses are reopening.

The most striking thing is that in New Orleans, the opportunities for immigrants to add to the local economy are obvious: There are roofs to repair, drywall to be hung, trees to be planted. But less apparent opportunities exist in every city, from opening new stores and restaurants to building new homes and offices.

Immigrants, a versatile and entrepreneurial group, remain an integral part of the American enterprise. It's unfortunate that it takes a disaster to remind us of that.

Mr. Villarreal is professor of public policy at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Mr. Rothschild is associate director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University's Global Prosperity Initiative.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1188266 ... lenews_wsj

I'm sorry, but perhaps if the poor, legal residents of New Orleans had the luxury of working at all, let alone working without paying taxes, being given money for business loans, social services, etc, hand over fist....they would be the ones revitalizing their city, their neighborhoods.......not illegal alien Latinos.

Once again, the theiving opportunists not only take over, but profit, and legal citizens get left with nothing. How nice............

Heck, if that's how it's going to be, why bother rebuilding at all since in a few years it will be just as trashed as Los Angeles anyway.

AZWreath,you put it perfectly.

I didn't want to post a comment on this story because I still am disgusted at the handling of the whole thing-Katrina- and now to see so many stories about how the Latinos are "building N.O." and putting their touches on it. It just makes me so mad-NOLA was GREAT before it needs to be kept that way NOT Mexicanized.I fear it will be just one more formerly great US city that bites the dust.




Head 'em up,move 'em out Rawhide!

I have posted about this before. When the rebuilding started, I saw a woman on FOX who worked for some kind of employement agency. She had lined up Americans who wanted to rebuild and were all set to start. A day or something before they were to start, she received a phone call telling her not to bother sending the Americans because the "Mexicans were coming". Yes she said this-it is engrained in my brain and my blood boils whenever I think about it. I wonder if there would still be a transcript? I really lost it when I heard that. It was said like The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming. Almost like a battle cry, like they were here to save the day.

Now we are being told that they only way that N.O. will be "saved" is by the illegals that are coming in?

What about the N.O. residents who are still there and need work? Maybe they would like to earn a living rebuilding THEIR city.

I thought after Katrina, they had a lot of stories, etc. about how N.O. residents would get work to rebuild. Obviously that is not happening.

I tell you one thing, if I find out one of those Habitat for Humanity/other type homes goes to an illegal, I really am going to lose it. Those homes should go to citizens who actually lived there at the time of Katrina. With that many illegals there, once they start with the lottery babies they will need a place to live after all.

Does anyone know if you need to be a citizen to get one of those homes? Illegals can get mortgages now. If illegals can get these type of charity-homes, I think it needs to be made aware so people realize this before they donate $$.

Another thing. I am just curious. Are people in N.O. still receiving $$ from Red Cross, etc? Because again, illegals should receive NONE. And I may sound like a cold female dog but I also mean if they were there before the hurricane. They deserve nothing from us. They have stolen more than enough already.

This makes me wonder how many illegals received those $1,000 debit cards. I mean there was enough fraud done by Americans with those-I seriously doubt we checked legal status.

So now a bunch of stores are being opened by illegal Latinos? Isn't that wonderful. Do illegals qualify for low interest rebuilding loans? I guess they do. Very nice.

Wow, this is crazy. Does this mean the city will lose it's tourists because it'll no longer be French but Mexican now?

This is sick. US citizens losing out to illegal aliens for jobs to fix THEIR OWN city. Why doesn't someone tell the Mayor of NO? He seemed to be a pretty stand-up guy, I'm sure he wouldn't let this go on if he knew about it.

Originally Posted by Nicole

I have posted about this before. When the rebuilding started, I saw a woman on FOX who worked for some kind of employement agency. She had lined up Americans who wanted to rebuild and were all set to start. A day or something before they were to start, she received a phone call telling her not to bother sending the Americans because the "Mexicans were coming". Yes she said this-it is engrained in my brain and my blood boils whenever I think about it. I wonder if there would still be a transcript? I really lost it when I heard that. It was said like The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming. Almost like a battle cry, like they were here to save the day.

Now we are being told that they only way that N.O. will be "saved" is by the illegals that are coming in?

What about the N.O. residents who are still there and need work? Maybe they would like to earn a living rebuilding THEIR city.

I thought after Katrina, they had a lot of stories, etc. about how N.O. residents would get work to rebuild. Obviously that is not happening.

I tell you one thing, if I find out one of those Habitat for Humanity/other type homes goes to an illegal, I really am going to lose it. Those homes should go to citizens who actually lived there at the time of Katrina. With that many illegals there, once they start with the lottery babies they will need a place to live after all.

Does anyone know if you need to be a citizen to get one of those homes? Illegals can get mortgages now. If illegals can get these type of charity-homes, I think it needs to be made aware so people realize this before they donate $$.