n increasing numbers, Hispanic immigrants are putting down roots in the Roanoke Valley. They're pouring concrete, opening hair salons and filling classrooms. Some employers, meanwhile, are attributing their success to this new labor pool. In this occasional series, The Roanoke Times explores the local impact of the national debate about immigration.
During a busy Friday night dinner waiter Jesus Malaga serves an armload of food to their Anglo customers. Malaga came to America four years ago from Mexico and, like many Mexican immigrants in Roanoke, first landed a job at El Rodeo.
Driven to succeed
ocio Ortiz has a monster inside her.
It screams at the factory workers she supervises when they slack off or talk too much.
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Rocio Ortiz takes lunch orders over the phone from Hispanic workers who come to her traditional Mexican restaurant, El Charly and Family, for their lunch hour.
It growls when her teenage son explains why he can come and go as he pleases, and when the high school principal calls — again — to say her son was skipping school.
We could have died just getting here from Mexico, Rocio tells him for the umpteenth time.
And: Forget about these cushy Roanoke County suburbs. When I was your age, I didn’t have a house.
I didn’t even have socks.
There was a time when the monster protected Rocio, when it pushed her as she scrambled across the border and away from a life dependent on cheap shoes sold from the back of her rickety bike.
It helped her shed the shameful “illegal immigrant” label, propelling her from factory worker to plant manager to business entrepreneur.
But sometimes, the monster still keeps her up at night.
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