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.
'Under the table’ prevalent, too
Area Hispanic workers and advocates describe varying degrees of under-the-table employment. There’s the small-time roofer who offers customers a deal if they write two checks — one to the company for payment of legitimate, taxable labor expenses, and the other to “Cash” for the illegal workers on his crew.
Some less scrupulous employers pay workers $200 a week and throw in free housing as part of the deal, cramming in eight to 10 people a house, said Cuban-born Surmy Rojas, who hosts a Spanish-media public-affairs television show in Roanoke.
“For a lot of immigrants, that’s still better than whatever they had before,” Rojas said. “They’re humble people who believe they should be thankful for what they have, so they don’t complain.”
Some bosses pay a lump-sum check to a foreman, or someone else on the crew who is legal, and then that worker pays the remaining illegal crew members in cash, according to Schack, the translator. Cedillo said many of her friends working in construction are paid the same way.
Though many workers describe being fearful of “La Migra,” in reality they also know that as long as they work hard, pay taxes and stay out of trouble, immigration officials won’t come after them.
Jay Turner, whose family-operated J.M. Turner & Co. dates back 70 years in Roanoke, said the hiring of Hispanic construction workers has evolved gradually in the region. “We used to do all our own concrete work, but we don’t do any of it anymore,” he said.
Gallery 
Like many large construction companies, J.M. Turner & Co. increasingly uses subcontractors who rely on Hispanic crews to do much of the labor, according to company president Jay Turner.
Now, like most major contractors, Turner hires cement subcontractors, most of whom show up with all-Hispanic work crews. “They can do it better, for less money and with fewer people, than we can,” Turner said.
Asked if the workers are legal, he added, “It’s a question we’ve not asked, so I don’t know.”
All that matters, in other words, is that the guy they’re writing the checks to is.
At R.L. Price Construction, 60 percent to 70 percent of the work is completed via subcontractors.
“Not all of them use Hispanics, but a growing number of them do,” owner Bob Price said.
“It’s just pretty well accepted now that when you want to get a project done, you use Hispanics.”
Speight of Mohawk Industries agrees. Although anti-immigration activists have said Hispanic labor drives overall down wages, Speight argues they’re paid the same as anyone else, with a starting hourly wage at Mohawk of $10.63 plus full benefits.
To pay $15 or $20 an hour — wages that would attract more Americans to the jobs — would require hefty price increases, he said.
“The consumer won’t pay for a more expensive product,” he said. “Wal-Mart’s proved that.”
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