Posted on 09/30/2005 4:42:15 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
BILOXI, Miss. - Victor Garcia thought he was going to die when he darted out of his apartment in sandals during last month's hurricane and saw refrigerators and roofs flying overhead.
But what he's encountered in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina is almost as bad, he said.
Unlike most Gulf Coast residents who lost all their personal property, Garcia, 37, won't be contacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency for help. No cash grants, no loans. No new shoes, no furniture for his temporary apartment, no replacing his old Honda Civic.
Garcia is one of thousands of illegal immigrants who moved to Mississippi in the past 10 years to help satisfy labor demands at coastal casinos, but who don't qualify for FEMA money because they're in the country without authorization.
"It's not fair," Garcia said from outside a moldy-smelling apartment he shares with four other men.
Federal aid should be applied "evenly" to all who suffered from the hurricane, regardless of immigration status, Garcia said, "because we're human."
Unknown number
More than 1.2 million Mexicans live in areas hit by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, many of them illegally, though it's unknown how many were affected.
Mexican consulates in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have provided assistance to more than 1,600 Katrina victims, according to the Mexican Embassy.
The Mexican government hasn't yet totaled how many nationals affected by Rita have been helped, said Adhemir Olguin, the consular spokesman in Houston, but the number is expected to be minimal.
A telephone line made available for Mexican nationals seeking help after Rita hasn't received any calls for assistance, Olguin said.
The majority of southern Mississippi's Mexican men are believed to have worked in maintenance jobs at coastal casinos; the women handled housekeeping chores in hotels.
Although workers in the United States must provide employers with verification of legal residency when applying for jobs, the demands for cheap labor are so great that the law is routinely skirted.
"We're useful, and they pay us cheap," said Garcia, who, along with his roommates, earned $7 an hour doing janitorial work at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, which was severely damaged when Katrina made landfall Aug. 29.
In an ironic twist, he now makes $8 cleaning up debris, and employers no longer face sanctions for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The reason: Many Katrina victims lost their documentation in the storm, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration.
Labor and immigration experts predict more undocumented workers will move to the Gulf Coast because of the relaxed rules and available demolition and construction jobs.
That doesn't sit well with organizations that oppose illegal immigration.
"People who lost everything, including their jobs, are now going to find themselves having to compete with workers who are in the country illegally," said Ira Mehlman, the media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
"What has happened ought to increase the amount of enforcement, not decrease it," he said.
Left with nothing
Many of the immigrants lived in deplorable conditions before the storm -- barely getting by but saving enough money to sustain their families in Mexico.
"We are left with nothing," said Carlos Lopez, who, like his roommates, ran out of his apartment in sandals when he felt the wooden building wouldn't withstand the hurricane.
They now live in a brick apartment, but they don't have the money to replace their cars.
"The hurricane removed the veil that was covering everyone who was poor and undocumented," said Sinia Harris with the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, which is scrambling to find temporary housing for the undocumented.
"Nine out of every 10 calls we get is from an illegal person," Harris said. "It's very sad because they're extremely marginalized."
Some undocumented families are even finding it difficult to apply for aid from nonprofit agencies, Harris said, because they don't have credit histories and rented apartments in other people's names.
The Mexican government has pitched in to help, offering immigrants one-way plane tickets to Mexico. It has also opened bank accounts in both countries to help hurricane victims.
Some immigrants are expecting to receive federal help because of a little-known program that allows undocumented parents to apply for FEMA aid through their U.S.-born children.
After Roberto Mata, a 31-year-old father of three, learned about the program, he debated for two weeks whether to apply. To do so, he would have to provide his children's Social Security numbers.
"I was scared of being thrown in jail, of being deported," Mata said, "and I feared I would have to abandon my family."
And not just for decades, but forever.
With the president's removing most of the legal hurdles for employers to now hire illegal aliens without an identity check, these states (being the closest to Mexico) will now become even more of an enclave for all of South Americans than the Western states have become over the past forty years.
And it will happen in less than five.
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Although workers in the United States must provide employers with verification of legal residency when applying for jobs, the demands for cheap labor are so great that the law is routinely skirted."We're useful, and they pay us cheap," said Garcia, who, along with his roommates, earned $7 an hour doing janitorial work at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, which was severely damaged when Katrina made landfall Aug. 29.
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Some (Illegal alein) immigrants are expecting to receive federal help because of a little-known program that allows undocumented parents to apply for FEMA aid through their U.S.-born children.
Please point me to a reference. I was not aware of this.
Hayworth said he hopes the Enforcement First legislation "will serve as a rallying point for the overwhelming majority of Americans that are dedicated to creating an effective, commonsense approach to immigration.If we leave this issue to the powerful self-interest groups in Washington, the opportunity to heal and strengthen our broken immigration system will be lost for generations and perhaps forever," Hayworth said.
It isnt that I dont have empathy for human suffering no matter what race. But with accusations of President Bush not liking blacks, and now accusations coming from illegal Mexican workers that we wont help them I am getting a bit sick of this crap. Where does it end. Everybody has their hand out and they have come to expect it to get filled.
Insurance companies are crawfishing on their debts to policyholders and it seems the pockets of the Federal Government is expected to pay for the whole mess.
Now this story of Carlos running out in the middle of the storm with no shoes and nothing but the clothes on his back is a good story all right, but what part of evacuate did Carlos not understand? Now we are supposed to buy Carlos, who should have been in Mexico, a new car so he can go to work. Why not?
The silver lining inside the cloud.
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How would you like to take 300,000 to 1 odds on immigration reform?
Though North Carolina has an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants, the state has one federal deportation officer who's among fewer than 10 people in the state who work for Detention and Removal Operations, a unit of ICE.
I live here... want to bet!?
LLS
What about a free busride to the border?
"Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, which is scrambling to find temporary housing for the undocumented."
What? We have organizations to help the undocumented?? That should be against the law!
When the next Atta needs help, I guess they will reach out to assist him in his hour of need.
I am outraged by this....seems I am outraged by much as of late.
"It's not fair," Garcia said... whine, whine, whine,....
If you don't like it, LEAVE! Leave anyway. Cry me a river.
The uncaring nature of this post is just too much for me to bear. These poor soles would be much better off in Hyannisport where, judging by their statements over the years, they would be extremely well received by the locals. The illegality of their presence would undoubtedly be overlooked too as the folks in Barnstable County have ignored illegality before.
ML/NJ
"...Many Katrina victims lost their documents in the storm, according to the Dept. of Homeland Security."
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Good! Anyone who has ever lost a wallet knows that their documentation can be replaced. So long as they are who they say they are, they can get it back. A hassle surely, but doable. Of course, if you're not here legally........
It's not fair," Garcia said from outside a moldy-smelling apartment he shares with four other men.
Federal aid should be applied "evenly" to all who suffered from the hurricane, regardless of immigration status, Garcia said, "because we're human."
WRONG.............fair is treating our law abiding CITIZENS equally. Criminals (You) should have no benefits other than a frickin bus ride back to the border!
Carlos and other illegals caught in the recent storms should learn from their experience. Go home. No one sent for you. You committed a criminal act to get here. America has no obgligation to you of any kind.
Carlos and his kind should be given a good hot meal, a packed lunch and a ticket back to Mexico or wherever.
For illegal immigrants, little help forthcoming
Gee! I'm cry'ng here.
Private persons and entities may initiate civil suits to obtain injunctions and treble damages against enterprises that conspire to or actually violate federal alien smuggling, harboring, or document fraud statutes, under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO). The pattern of racketeering activity is defined as commission of two or more of the listed crimes. A RICO enterprise can be any individual legal entity, or a group of individuals who are not a legal entity but are associated in fact, AND CAN INCLUDE NONPROFIT ASSOCIATIONS.
To whom should this violation of the latter be reported?
If you are only referring to border reform as by a government, no chance, but, if you are saying 300,000 to 1 that the borders will be closed to illegals by some means other than the weak kneed spinelss legends in their own minds in Washington and state captials. YOU ARE ON!
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