ICE posing as contractors snag illegal persons
Josue Vega was one of thousands of immigrant workers who flocked to New Orleans in 2005 in hopes of finding a rebuilding job in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
He worked seven days a week and earned more than twice his normal earnings. But with work now down to three days a week, the 20-year-old is planning to go home to Honduras.
“My goal is to be here until November, and then never come back,” he said. “I’ve had enough.”
The stops and starts of the post-Katrina rebuilding effort, often due to bureaucratic delays in funding, still provided plenty of work to rebuild homes and businesses. But reconstruction work has slowed as projects are completed or transition to phases requiring highly specialized skills.
“In the immediate aftermath, labor demand was huge and few workers were willing to accept the labor and residential conditions that prevailed in the city,” said Elizabeth Fussell, a Washington State University professor who studied immigration after Katrina.
“Now there is less demand, and it is for workers with more skills and perhaps certification by the state. This translates to less demand for low-skill, undocumented workers.”