This article explores the crucial role played by immigrant laborers in disaster recovery efforts across the United States, highlighting their contributions to rebuilding communities after major events like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. However, it also raises concerns about the potential impact of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed immigration policies on this essential workforce.
A family who lost their home in the Eaton Fire faces uncertainty after learning they wouldn't be covered by their insurance due to a late payment. In the Los Angeles area this week, Alejandro, a 55-year-old from Mexico, was one of several day laborers leading cleanups near scorched neighborhoods in Pasadena and Altadena. Donning a yellow safety vest, a mask and glasses, he helped pick up branches and fallen trees and direct traffic while others worked.
'The country would fall into crisis' without workers like him, said Alejandro, who spoke in Spanish and requested his last name not be used because he is in the country illegally. When President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next week, his plans to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally could impact America's ability to quickly rebuild after major damage from floods, hurricanes, fires and other disasters, immigrant advocates say. An order prohibiting the cleanup or removal of debris from critical fire areas, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena, until a hazardous materials inspection is completed was issued. As the number of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change increases, there is a growing workforce of laborers, many of them without legal status. Some crisscross the country following extreme weather events, helping to put back together entire communities. Many are highly skilled electricians, plumbers and masons. Others do manual labor, like cutting up and hauling away fallen trees and branches. 'The fact is that the people who rebuild those areas - from Palisades to Malibu to Altadena - it's immigrant construction crews,' said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. 'They're the ones who are the second responders.' In 2023, the U.S. was hit with 28 climate disasters that each exceeded $1 billion in damages, the most ever, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While it is too early to know the toll of L.A.'s wildfires, an early estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic loss at $250 billion to $275 billion. Trump has called climate change 'a hoax' and during his campaign accused immigrants of taking 'Black jobs' and 'Hispanic jobs.' Data show that immigrant labor contributes to economic growth and provides promotional opportunities for U.S.-born workers. Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump's transition team, told The Associated Press in a statement that Trump 'will enlist every federal power and coordinate with state authorities' to deport 'illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers... while simultaneously lowering costs for families and strengthening our workforce.' The disaster restoration industry boomed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which transformed the Gulf Coast into one of the largest construction sites in the world. Many mom-and-pop construction businesses got bigger and consolidated. Some were eventually bought by private equity companies that saw a highly profitable industry with money coming in from insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mario Mendoza has worked in disaster restoration since Katrina. Within days after the storm, Mendoza was cleaning up mud-caked homes and businesses, removing debris, demolishing walls and ripping up floors, some with asbestos. Mendoza, a 54-year-old worker from Honduras in the country without legal status, remembered seeing dead bodies in homes he was hired to clean. Some bosses refused to pay him. In the years since Katrina, he has helped Louisiana communities rebuild after tornadoes and hurricanes. After disasters, workers are hired by residents, contractors or subcontractors to tear down moldy walls damaged by flooding, or tarp and repair roofs and windows blown off by powerful winds. They remove debris and felled trees from people's homes, clogged streets and roadways. Then they rebuild. Those without legal status are vulnerable to exploitation and wage theft. They sleep in pickup trucks or tents, sometimes on parking lot floors or the destroyed houses they're reassembling. They are roofers, carpenters, tile installers and laborers. A retired fire captain recounts how he helped save a neighbor and homes in his neighborhood as the Eaton Fire raged. Day laborers hired to clean up homes often don't have protective equipment or safety training, exposing them to 'severe hazardous materials' and dangerous environments, said Jessica Martinez, executive director for the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a network of labor organizations that has trained workers in post-hurricane recovery. She added that Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric also discourages workers from asking for basic resources because they fear being targeted and deported. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 10.8 million people were working in the construction industry in 2020
Immigration Labor IMMIGRATION DISASTER RECOVERY LABOR TRUMP CLIMATE CHANGE WILDFIRE CONSTRUCTION
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