Immigrants reshape post-disaster New Orleans

No questions asked
At Esperanza Charter School, no questions are asked about the immigration status of families. The school teaches from kindergarten to 8th grade. The director is lobbying for the district to start a high school and extend the specialized academic path all the way to college.

"This school would not have even been possible before Katrina," Director Melinda Martinez said.

With 60 percent of its students Latino, 30 percent African American and 10 percent white, the school has a waiting list about 15-students deep in each grade. Some never enroll because of the transient lives of their parents.

"Sometimes, a child is never seen or heard from again," said Martinez, who believes the parents were either deported, or packed up for a less-difficult places.

For those who remain in New Orleans, straddling a troubled city and a troubled homeland has led to disillusionment, sometimes dependency.

The director of the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse for greater New Orleans said the nonprofit had about a half dozen Spanish-speaking clients before Katrina. In the last year, the number increased to 50.

Outreach on dangers of drugs
In response, the organization has established yet another Hispanic outreach in New Orleans, this one to educate youth on the dangers of drugs.

"We have young people who have not seen their parents in five years," said Italia Castillo Duran, who directs the effort. "We have parents who have one child here, and another back in their homeland."

At one time, Arturo, 33, dreamed of providing an American future to his daughter, Beberly Esther, 7. But three years after he arrived illegally from Guatemala, construction work has dried up and he has little money to send home.

Arturo, who requested his last name be withheld for fear of deportation, said he has managed to resist the temptations that have consumed others.

"A lot of people start getting addicted. Maybe they have a wife, wondering, waiting," he said. "You can lose your family at home. While you lose yourself in New Orleans."

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