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.
Home, for now
Adrian Castellon, finding some privacy in an old farm truck, talks to his wife in Mexico, who is due to deliver their second child any day. Castellon spends eight months a year working on this Franklin County tobacco farm and returns each winter to see his family. Days later, his wife, Gloria, delivered a baby boy.
But tonight, most of the parents and kids hang out in the town plaza, far from the ear-throbbing dance music. Maria Elena still won’t let her daddy out of her sight, so he takes her with him to a nearby taco stand, even though it’s past bedtime.
On their way home, a sombrero-clad older man clops by on a horse, a beer in one hand and a spare six-pack in the other.
A moment later, a younger man in a truck — a drunk Norteno , presumably — squeals his tires as he flies by the crowd, narrowly missing the man on the horse and an 8-year-old girl.
Adrian shakes his head at the foolishness and, in the dark, they set out toward home. He wraps his arm around his daughter, and she pulls herself closer, clinging mightily to his shirt.
Jose Juan Espinoza Segura translated interviews for this story.
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