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.
Unofficial Main Street
Perhaps more significantly, the documented school explosion may still belie the true picture of Hispanic growth in Roanoke:
The average Hispanic immigrant age is 25; most are young, single men from Mexico and Honduras, according to an informal survey conducted by Surmy Rojas, a Cuban-born immigrant who hosts Spanish-language shows on WTOY and Cox Cable.
According to Rojas, who surveyed 2,000 Hispanics outside hangout spots including laundromats, supermarkets and other stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, many live communally and work in construction or landscaping, and don’t have children.
Rojas’ figures are underscored by 2000 census data, which show that the percentage of 20- to 29-year-old males statewide is high — 26 percent for Hispanics versus 14 percent for non-Hispanics.
In the ’90s, while thousands of Hispanics flocked to construction-booming big cities and agricultural-worker hot spots, Roanoke saw slower growth. But in recent years, they have fled places such as Northern Virginia in search of a lower cost of living, Hispanic leaders say.
A report issued in April by the Pew Hispanic Center ranked Virginia 10th in the nation for states with illegal immigrant populations, with an estimated 250,000 to 300,000 in the state.
Gallery 
Cox Cable Spanish language show host Surmy Rojas prepares for a taping of her show "Abriendo Puertas" (Opening Doors) at Hollins University recently. The show features stories on local Hispanic people and spreads news of local events in Spanish, and airs eight times a week.They’re looking for places where “La Migra” — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — doesn’t have a large presence, and where many employers do check green cards and other work documents but not with a magnifying glass. There are just two ICE agents, based in Harrisonburg, assigned to cover 52 counties in the western half of Virginia.
ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs said there are no current plans to add area agents or a Roanoke office, even though there is a push nationally to bring criminal investigations against employers of illegal immigrants.
Though there have been no ICE raids in Roanoke, criminal work-site enforcement arrests in the nation have increased from 24 in 1999 to 382 so far this fiscal year.
“With limited resources, we have to prioritize what we do,” Fobbs added.
Where do Hispanic immigrants live in Roanoke? Because a central neighborhood or barrio has yet to emerge in Roanoke, Hispanics have settled in all quadrants of the city and surrounding areas, too. But an unofficial Main Street has emerged to serve their needs — and to cash in on their presence.
Williamson Road has more than a dozen Hispanic-owned businesses, including insurance agents, grocery stores, restaurants, a hair salon, bakery, jewelry store and butcher shop. There are staffing agencies that connect job seekers with employers and informal groups of day laborers who sometimes gather in front of the Civic Mall.
The El Rodeo restaurant chain used to be the only place the average Roanoker could count on hearing Spanish. But now doctors, bankers and car dealers advertise their Spanish-speaking abilities to attract clientele.
The community is tight-knit, Hispanic business owners say, its philosophy is “echar una mano” — offer a hand. Arlett Martinez, a doctor before she fled Cuba as a political refugee in 1999, spends her days cutting hair at her new Arlett’s Beauty Salon on Williamson Road — and doing all manner of pro bono social work for Hispanic customers, from translating bills to helping her customers’ children with their homework.
Gallery Arlett Martinez was a doctor in Cuba before leaving for political reasons to move to Roanoke. Now she operates Arlett's Beauty Salon on Williamson Road where she serves a largely Latino client base. In addition to her style work, Martinez also helps her clients pro bono with everything from translating bills to working with children and their homework.An increasing number of customers are longtime Roanokers who want to learn Spanish. An American-born car dealer on Williamson Road takes informal Spanish lessons from her weekly, and they regularly send each other customers.
“In the past six months especially, all you have to do is go into the big Wal-Mart on a Sunday night and you’re surrounded by people speaking Spanish,” said Shari Conley-Edwards, who teaches ELL and General Educational Development classes to a growing number of Hispanic adults.
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