The return of residents to the Crescent City has been slow. Who can blame them? Many don't want to risk taking their family back with a city still unprotected against even a category three hurricane. A Louisiana gambler would understand, since all scientific evidence points to continued hurricane hyper-activity in the Atlantic for awhile.
Although the residents might be dragging their feet, the workers are not. New Orleans is becoming a haven for illegal alien day workers. Jobs are plentiful and wages are high, and friends tell me a similar situation exists in the Rita-ravaged Lake Charles area. If you need to build it, they will come.
You might wonder how New Orleans Mayor Ray Naggin feels about this development:
Nagin caused a stir in October when he was quoted as asking business leaders how he could "make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexican workers," but on Wednesday he sounded a more conciliatory note in a news conference.
But the mayor's hands are tied. There is much more work than workers, and the illegals are eager to work. As to why out of work or under-employed Americans have not flocked to the scene to take part, the day workers have an opinion:
They point to the back of the parking lot where the only "gringos" in sight are sleeping on sheets of cardboard or sitting on wooden boxes, surrounded by empty beer cans and booze bottles.
"There are a lot of drunks here," said Delgado.
When asked where the American workers were, Del Rio shook his head and said, "Who knows? It just seems like the Latin race likes to work more."
And this, folks, is why no politician wants to fix the illegal immigration problem.
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