A New Spice in the Gumbo

摘要

Only one day after hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, Tranquilino Jimenez already had a job offer. An undocumented immigrant from Mexico, he set off from his home in Mobile, Ala., to join a convoy of 80 other workers hired to rip out soggy carpets and tear down Sheetrock from Biloxi, Miss., to Port Arthur, Texas. He eventually settled in New Orleans, where he's cleaning up schools in St. Bernard Parish, east of the city. Earning $12 per hour, Jimenez, 40, works 10 hours a day, seven days a week, retiring at night to a dingy motel room crammed with four other Latino laborers. Asked how long he plans to stay in New Orleans, he replies, "As long as there's work."