The undocumented reconstruction workers

Time to make sure your Irony-o-Meter is fully calibrated.

Hurricane Ike's destruction is sparking one of the largest rebuilding efforts the state has seen in decades, but at the same time is highlighting a thorny facet of the region's labor force: A lot of the recovery work will be done by illegal immigrants.

Homeowners have already turned to day laborers -- many of whom are undocumented -- to help clear brush, tent roofs and repair other storm damage. Contractors have hired them to rebuild or restore businesses and the city's infrastructure.

And the major work of rebuilding small towns along the Gulf Coast or big homes in Galveston will likely be aided by undocumented workers.

But this tug and pull of the labor force highlights an uneasy dilemma: The region needs the muscle of undocumented immigrants, but simultaneously is a cog in a broader crackdown of illegal immigrants at worksites.

"There's just no mechanism in place right now to provide those important laborers work authorization," said Leigh Ganchan, a Houston immigration attorney with Haynes and Boone. "It's a shame that employers can't tap into a whole segment of society that's willing and capable to provide those services. Our nation is more vulnerable than it would like to admit, I think. Vulnerable, meaning we need people to help us rebuild our infrastructure after major disasters like this."

Carlos Gonzalez, Mexico's consul general in Houston, expects the area's existing immigrant population will do the rebuilding work, a key difference with what happened post-Katrina. New Orleans experienced an influx of Hispanic immigrants because it did not have as large of an immigrant population as Houston.

"You will find the immigrant community -- as they always have -- will play a very big role," said Laura Murillo, president of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

And the anti-immigrant community will bitch and moan about it. The comment that follows from the anti-immigration activist about giving citizens first crack at rebuilding jobs sounds nice in theory, until you realize that the process of checking everyone's status before hiring them to clear debris or whatever would mean huge delays to the task at hand, and in the end there wouldn't be nearly enough workers to do everything that needs doing. I mean, that was the way of the world before Ike, so why should it be any different now?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 26, 2008 to Hurricane Katrina