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Latino Population Surges in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Rebuilding effort attracts immigrant workers to NOLA

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 24, 2008 1:05 PM CST
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(Newser) – The promise of jobs in New Orleans' ongoing reconstruction has drawn thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrant laborers to the city in one of the quickest demographic shifts America has seen, the AP reports. The Hispanic population has increased from 15,000 to 50,000 since the storm, accounting for 15.2% of the population.

A Tulane University study in 2006 found that Latinos accounted for half of the reconstruction workforce, and that half of those workers were illegal immigrants. The boom has put extra stress on the city’s already thin public services, and has police and medical clinics scrambling to hire more Spanish speakers. The need for communication with police is particularly acute because undocumented workers—paid in cash—have become common targets of armed robbers.

People walk out of Unique Grocery in the French Quarter of New Orleans Friday, Dec. 19, 2008.
People walk out of Unique Grocery in the French Quarter of New Orleans Friday, Dec. 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Immigrants and supporters march through downtown at an immigrants rights rally and march May 1, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Immigrants and supporters march through downtown at an immigrants rights rally and march May 1, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana.   (Getty Images)
Immigrants and supporters march through downtown at an immigrants rights rally and march May 1, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Immigrants and supporters march through downtown at an immigrants rights rally and march May 1, 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana.   (Getty Images)
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There's no place in the world like New Orleans in terms of how rapid the population change has been.
- Margie McHugh, co-director of immigration integration policy at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington D.C think-tank.

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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
Shannonals
Dec 27, 2008 3:30 AM CST
Hopefully alot of the reconstruction is being maintained at the levies

New Orleans area gained jobs in November
Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Racial killings marked post-storm chaos
The Nation

...but New Orleans didn't have a 'race war'
Huffington Post

US

 
Hurricane Katrina • New Orleans • police • population • Latinos • immigrant • Hispanic • armed robbery

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