Land of Opportunity

The Roanoke Times

In 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.
Recent Roanoke Times stories on Hispanic immigration have included:
gallery-immigrantsDuring 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.

December 31, 2006

As Congress wrestles with what to do about the estimated 12 million illegal Hispanic immigrants, friends and relatives keep showing up on the Roanoke doorsteps of those already settled here. The Roanoke Times documents the people behind the debate in this series of occasional articles titled “Land of Opportunity.”

Though some subjects were reluctant to have their names used and photographs taken out of fear of being deported, many believed that telling their stories would put a human face on a growing population that is still largely invisible — but which openly co-exists — in our community. In most cases, the newspaper has not pinpointed where the immigrants live or where they are employed.

Beth Macy

Beth Macy has been a features writer at The Roanoke Times since 1989. Macy gravitates toward stories that feature real-life struggles of ordinary people, with profile articles that have garnered national feature-writing awards and Virginia Press Association honors. She has published freelance articles in salon.com, The Christian Science Monitor and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and taught literary journalism at Hollins University.

Josh Meltzer

Josh Meltzer has been a photographer at The Roanoke Times since 1999. Earlier this year, Meltzer was named Photographer of the Year (Under 115,000 Circulation) by the National Press Photographers Association. Meltzer previously was a staff photographer at the Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune for four years. In addition to his still photography, Meltzer has photographed, recorded, edited and produced more than two dozen video, audio and multimedia online presentations that have received awards from the Virgininia News Photographers Association and the Society for News Design.

In 2005, Macy and Meltzer teamed up to produce "An Unlikely Refuge," a multimedia series documenting the resettlement of Somali Bantu refugees in Roanoke. Their work won several national awards, including the 2006 Digital Edge Award for multimedia storytelling and the Associated Press Managing Editors award for online convergence.

Evelio Contreras

Evelio Contreras has been a reporter at The Roanoke Times since June 2005. He began as an editorial assistant in Metro and is now the community sports writer for the New River Valley Current, Neighbors and Sports. Contreras hopes to write narrative stories with a photographer's eye for detail. Before moving to Roanoke, Contreras was a desk assistant at The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and worked as a sports editor of The News Gram in Eagle Pass, Texas. He graduated in June 2004 with journalism and philosophy degrees at Northwestern University.

Reporters: Beth Macy, Evelio Contreras

Photographer/multimedia: Josh Meltzer

Online designer: Amanda Hicks

Online producer: Jordan Fifer

Editor: Carole Tarrant

Multimedia editor: Seth Gitner

Print designer: Terri Macklin

Photo editor: Michael Stowe

Graphics: Grant Jedlinsky, Rob Lunsford

Copy editor: Alison Weaver

September 25, 2006

Good news

Roberto Serrano and Nohemi play with their 3-year-old daughter, Jessica Serrano-Cedillo, who was born in the United States. If immigration officials deported her, Nohemi told her husband, he would have to take care of the children.
Gallery Open Roberto Serrano and Nohemi play with their 3-year-old daughter, Jessica Serrano-Cedillo, who was born in the United States. If immigration officials deported her, Nohemi told her husband, he would have to take care of the children.

By the end of the week, Melvin’s picture had been distributed around the world. His story, photo and his mother’s DNA went into the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database.

Within two weeks, an ICE agent called Sanchez-Jones with good news: There had been no DNA matches so far.

It could be months or years before she hears anything, and Nohemi has long known the sad truth: That she may never see Melvin or find out what happened to him.

Still, three times a week, Nohemi kneels on the floor of her church and prays for her only son.

“Lo que me mantiene viva es mi fe y mi esperanza — para verlo vivo otra vez,” she says, repeatedly.

What keeps me alive is my faith and my hope — to see him again.

Photographer Josh Meltzer and reporter Evelio Contreras contributed to this story. Vivian Sanchez-Jones, Eufemio Rivera and Elizabeth Cedillo translated interviews with Nohemi Cedillo and other non-English-speaking relatives.

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