immigrant reconstruction workers in Red Cross shelters face eviction

[Guest guest]

Please send email responses to bernstein@....********************************************October 7, 2005

Latino Katrina Shelter Residents Face Imminent Eviction

On or about Wednesday, some 40 Latino residents at a temporary Red Cross shelter in the Civic Center in D’Iberville, Mississippi (outside Biloxi), were given 48 hours notice to leave the shelter, purportedly because they are not “legitimate” shelter seekers.

Yesterday, the local shelter director, Engelke, claimed that the eviction had been ordered by the National Red Cross and that Red Cross shelters in the entire Gulf Coast had been given the same mandate to remove all out-of state-workers from shelters within 48 hours. The National Red Cross has not yet confirmed this claim, but if true thousands of shelter residents may be evicted as early as today. Reports not yet confirmed have come in that similar evictions are now occurring in Louisiana.

* Background

A fact-finding team consisting of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and some other groups visited the D’Iberville shelter early yesterday evening seeking an explanation. The shelter houses roughly 150 people, and the team reports that all but one of the 40 being evicted are Latino.

When the advocates arrived yesterday evening, these Latino residents were packing up to leave (with nowhere to go). The deadline had been moved forward and the residents had been told they must depart by 8 p.m., CDT, or the sheriff would be called and they could be arrested. Thanks to negotiations undertaken by the fact-finding team, the individuals were given one last night to remain in the shelter, but we expect that an attempt will be made to enforce the evictions when they return to the shelter from work later today.

The shelter claims that these individuals are out-of-town immigrant workers who are in the area not because they lost their homes to the hurricane, but because they are working on the clean up and rebuilding effort. The fact finding team reported that many of those told to leave are indeed recently arrived workers, but also believe that some are immigrant residents of the area who cannot prove their residency or are too intimidated to resist the eviction. Some may have been profiled for questioning because of their appearance.

* How the immigrants ended up in the shelter

Many of the immigrants ordered evicted were induced to move to the area from Florida or Texas, based on false promises made by FEMA-funded sub-contractors. The contractors transported the workers and promised housing, food, and wages of $11-12 per hour plus over-time. But the housing is not there and hundreds who have been in the area up to 3 weeks have not even been paid the meager wages they were promised. Those who have received wages have been paid $5-8/hr for waste removal, sometimes with a $20 per diem to cover food and housing. This compares to a prevailing regional wage of $11-15 and $110 per diem for this line of work, which government contractors would have been required to pay under the -Bacon Act (which has been suspended in hurricane affected areas).

With nowhere else to turn, many of the workers have ended up in the shelters. Others are living not in shelters, but in shanty-town tent cities that have cropped up. Even were the workers paid enough to afford rental housing, little is available.

* Bottom line

We do not argue that the Red Cross has the principle responsibility to house workers who come to the area to take part in the rebuilding effort. That responsibility falls squarely on FEMA and its for-profit contractors who invited the workers in the first place. But it is shameful for the Red Cross to precipitously evict these working people, who came to help, without first ensuring that they have a viable alternative such as proper support by their employers, many of whom are operating on no-bid government contracts.

Efforts to address the imminent evictions with the National Red Cross have been under way and continue.

More information,

Josh Bernstein (bernstein@...) or Jon Blazer (blazer@...)National Immigration Law Center(202) 216-0261(202) 256-4335 (Josh’s cell)(646) 643-8522 (Jon’s cell)