The headline reads, “In the wake of Katrina, thousands of Spanish-speaking people are migrating to New Orleans, drawn by the dream of a better life.” Since Ray Nagin’s infamous “chocolate city” remarks, there has been a huge migration into New Orleans. We’re not a chocolate city. We’re a flan city. Like the Matrix, it’s all around us.

When we look in the newspaper at the want ads, and when we channel surf on TV or the radio. When we go to a gas station or a Home Depot. When we go to a grocery store and see products labeled in only Spanish, and when a Spanish speaking woman interrupted my husband and daughter to yell at them. They still don’t know why she was angry. After a few minutes, they walked away, leaving her in the produce section, still yelling.

The Times-Picayune article in a recent Sunday paper, printed in both Spanish and English, didn’t trouble to distinguish much between people here legally and illegally. They are “migrant laborers” and more than half are “undocumented.”

A study by Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley found almost half the recovery construction work force in the New Orleans area to be Hispanic. And among workers who have been here at least six months, 65 percent reported they plan to settle here permanently. Most workers came from other states, not directly from their home countries.

[...]Mexican Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Magallon, in Houston, said the Mexican government is seriously considering reopening its New Orleans consulate, closed four years ago in a round of budget cuts.

The office could help migrant workers from Mexico when they encounter workplace abuses, he said. It also could serve Mexican businesses wanting a piece of the hurricane recovery.

He said the richness of New Orleans’ culture and history is reason enough for Mexico to maintain a consulate in the city, but the increased presence of Mexican nationals also looks as though it will endure.

So an influx that seemed temporary in the early days after Katrina is now taking hold for perhaps thousands of people, including Flores.

As expected, the illegal alien workers get ripped off and mistreated by unscrupulous contractors. They are sometimes not paid at all, and frequently work in unsafe conditions. It’s repugnant, unfair, and easily avoidable if they would just come here legally.

The Advancement Project report, which found inequities in treatment of low-wage Hispanic workers after interviewing hundreds of laborers, calls for federal agencies, state and local governments to better monitor their treatment.

“They all are trying to make a better life for themselves and are finding anything but that,” said Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the group. “While we’re trying to rebuild the city, we have a lack of government infrastructure to make sure there’s a just reconstruction.”

Sweeps by immigration officials seeking to identify undocumented workers also are a source of continuing anxiety. Contreras said he has no papers validating his presence in the United States, and he worries every day about getting caught and going to jail.

Several workers said they think about crackdowns but feel they have good odds of avoiding capture, imprisonment and deportation.

Of course, a “just reconstruction” would not be an issue at all if these people were here legally. It’s that simple. You can’t cheat an honest man. If you want the full protection of that legal umbrella, stay underneath it. Otherwise, accept the fact that you’re going to get wet.

We have gained nearly as many new Latino residents as the former New Orleanians who are “stuck” in Houston and living on the dole. Even after the influx of illegal immigrants has reduced the worst of the labor demand and wages have dropped dramatically, you can still earn nearly $10 an hour at fast food restaurants, and many construction jobs are still hiring people with no experience at all for $20 an hour.

But what happens when things level out and wages go back down to normal levels? The emergency rooms are already overwhelmed – my husband and I waited for hours before leaving without seeing a doctor. What happens when the schools – already among the worst in the nation – are overwhelmed with children who can’t speak the language? They’ll be able to stay thanks to their new American-born siblings, and they’ll be entitled to free breakfast and lunch and a teacher who can teach in their language. That’s how it works in California and Arizona, and there’s no reason to think Louisiana will be any different.

We need to rebuild, but not like this. The price is far too high.

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