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.
Employers weigh in
The Roanoke Times talked to several area employers who echoed those concerns. Years ago, McNeil Roofing President John Williams recalls telling the former owner of the company: “What are we going to do for employees in 15 years when there’s nobody to hire?”
- H-2A visa: Temporary agricultural visa allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature
- H-2B visa: Temporary work visa allows people to come to the United States, mainly for nonagricultural jobs, for which U.S. workers are in short supply; up to 66,000 H-2B visas are issued every year
- H-1B visa: Enables professionals in “specialty occupations” to work legally; a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas are issued every year
- LIFE Act: The last legalization program, called the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act, used by immigrants to attain permanent residence; applicants had to file prior to April 30, 2001
- TPS: Temporary Protected Status, offered to some Honduran immigrants in the wake of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 Green card: Also called Resident Alien card or Legal Permanent Resident card; can take from one to 20 years to obtain; green-card holders can apply for naturalization after five years
- ITIN: Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, issued by the Internal Revenue Service; used by many illegal workers in lieu of a legitimate Social Security number for taxpaying purposes
The American roofers he employed were increasingly unreliable: Employees lost their driver’s licenses because of driving under the influence convictions , didn’t show up for work and frequently couldn’t pass drug tests. “The ones who did show up were not very good,” Williams said.
A year and a half ago, he approached an employee at a Roanoke Mexican restaurant and asked: Do you have a friend who might want to work for us? Word spread among Hispanics, who now make up one-third of Williams’ crew. With a surging Roanoke Valley Hispanic population that community leaders estimate to be as large as 16,000, Williams had no problem finding workers.
“Last week, we had nine of them outside waiting to put in their applications,” said Williams, who has started taking Spanish classes.
“To our knowledge, every person we hire has permission to work in the country,” he said. “I’d like to think the guys we have are pretty clean; they don’t seem to be worried about immigration coming in.”
Asked about proposals to mandate a foolproof verification system, Williams said: “When the government comes out with new rules, we’ll have to automatically switch to them. But right now, it’s talk, talk, talk. ... And I sit back and watch and think: What are you going to do to screw me up?
Gallery 
McNeil Roofing workers Fidel Miranda (seated) and Walter Giron (far right) wait to seal a roof while a mechanical engineering firm installs new air conditioning on a roof.
“It’s small business that’s going to suffer the worst.”
At Mohawk Industries in Rockbridge County, human resources director David Speight makes sure the Hispanic workers he hires have legitimate documentation by contracting with a third-party business to check all Social Security numbers, names and dates of birth against Social Security Administration databases. The first time Mohawk used the verification service, half of the 50 Hispanic-employees’ numbers came back as not matching.
When confronted about their faux documentation, the Hispanic workers quit. “One guy was so desperate for work, he actually came back to me a little while later with a different name and a different Social Security number,”
Speight recalled, adding that he was turned away. “But that tells you how badly they want to work.”
The 75 Hispanics Mohawk currently employs “have been a godsend to our company, and we’d like to hire more of them,” Speight said, adding that most carpool to the carpet-manufacturing plant from Roanoke.
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