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.
Here to stay
Unlike the Somali and Somali Bantu refugees at Westside who came in 2004 and 2005 — several of whom have relocated to cities with larger Somali populations — the families of Whitt’s Hispanic students are staying and putting down roots. “Some are already trying to own their own businesses,” Whitt said.
Soundslide 
Vivian Sanchez Jones (left), a school liaison for Roanoke's Refugee and Immigration Services, helps keep the attention of Francisco Mediola Aguilar, 4, on preschool teacher Becky Pullins (right) during a screening for incoming preschool students at Westside Elementary School. Roanoke City schools are seeing the biggest influx of Spanish-speaking students this year. Sanchez-Jones helps translate for hundreds of incoming preschoolers. Schools are federally mandated to serve all children who register, regardless of their legal status.Frequently, a month or two after one set of siblings arrives, a newer group of students — cousins of the first kids — join the class. “A lot of Hispanics coming to Roanoke are coming because they already have relatives or friends here,” Whitt said.
“Last year, I had to draw out a family tree because it was getting way too complex and I couldn’t get it.”
- Estimated Roanoke Hispanic population: 10,000-12,000
- Median household income:$67,000 with an average of four working people per house, many working multiple jobs
- Average age: 25
- Percentage male: 60 percent
- Percentage single (or married but spouses live in other countries): 60 percent
- Countries of origin: predominantly Mexico, followed by Honduras
- Average Hispanic household size: 4.11 people
- Percentage who speak Spanish as their primary language: 60 percent
- Percentage who are bilingual: 35 percent
For the first time, the system is offering K-12 summer ELL classes. Administrators are launching an endorsement program, in conjunction with Virginia Tech, to get more teachers already in the system certified to teach ELL. “We’re trying to be proactive and home-grow some of these teachers,” ELL supervisor Barbara Carper said.
Virginia school districts with large farmworker contingents still dwarf Roanoke’s foreign-born student population; 37 percent of Harrisonburg’s student population, for instance, is ELL, the highest percentage in the state.
Even so, Carper said: “What was good for Roanoke City Schools 10 years ago is clearly not what’s good for it now. It’s a different population.”
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