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

October 15, 2006

'The right thing to do'

Dave Bower is the owner of Seven Oaks. Through the years, the company has employed legal workers from Central America.Audio gallery Open
Dave Bower is the owner of Seven Oaks. Through the years, the company has employed legal workers from Central America.
At Mohawk Industries, 140 of 1,300 employees are Hispanic, most of them commuting from Roanoke to the Rockbridge County flooring factory. Managers take Spanish classes at work, and Hispanic workers will soon begin taking English classes at work — both on company time, said human resources manager David Speight.

“We thought it would be good for the Hispanics not just here at work but also when they’re out in the community. We think it’s just the right thing to do, and that’s why we’re doing it,” Speight said, adding that the company donated money to buy eyeglasses for underprivileged children served at last week’s Hispanic Health Fair in Roanoke.

At MW Windows & Doors in Rocky Mount, where 10 percent of the work force is Hispanic, the company offers similar Spanish classes for foremen and managers. “We go over basic communication used on production lines and, most importantly, we make sure our safety training is communicated,” said Wayne Slate, vice president of human resources.

Slate added that he routinely posts notices for ESL classes offered — at company expense — at the Workforce Development Center in Rocky Mount, but few Hispanics have taken the course. “What can you do? They’re working full time for us; they have family lives. It’s tough for them,” Slate said.

“They have many of their friends and relatives here now, so it’s not like they can’t get by.”

« Working around barriers | 'It's in God's hands' »

Comments

After working several months now at a company that recently started hiring hispanics I can rightly say that the american worker is being pushed aside.Employers states that the hispanic worker works faster then the american worker which basically is correct but what they're not saying is that their fast work is sloppy and it takes the american worker to come in behind them straighten out their messes.When there is a mess the trainer is sent to see what has happened and he or she(maybe) tells the hispanic workers what has accurred whereas the hispanic workers should had been brought to that particular place to see for theirselves what had transpired and then they would maybe understand better and may not repeat the mistake.At this business it is okay for the hispanics to walk around with their cellphones texting messages and go to breaks early whereas the american worker would be giving a write up for doing the same thing.When the american worker at this company either quit or fired they will not be rehired for six months to a year but with the hispanic worker if they are fired or quit they get rehired within 2 weeks.99.80 percent of the hispanic worker does not soeak any english and a very few speeaks little english.Human resources say they are a godsend but what human resourese needs to do is to come out in the department on all shifts for a couple days and work amoung them and see for themselves what is transpiring.As for the english classes that is supposed to be given what company is going to willing to lose time and money to give these classes that is a big expense.

Posted by: sandy | May 10, 2007 10:35 AM

the hispanics are in a mostly english-speaking country and mostly settled by english people, why aren't they taking classes to learn english?

Posted by: pamela | October 15, 2006 8:22 AM

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