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For Illegal Immigrants, Some Aid Is Too Risky
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"We are very concerned because they're afraid to ask for help," Brent A. Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said of illegal immigrants. "It's difficult to get word to them. They're in the dark much more so than other folks. They have a default position: to avoid authorities at all costs."
About 65 Latinos were staying at the $30-a-night motel where Almicar stood. Some were documented; many were not. A Guatemalan woman said she is consumed by worry and fear. She would not give her name, she said, because people would come to deport her.
What if my children get sick? she wondered. "I guess I will have to go to the hospital and take my chances," she said.
Her friend Merling Buchanan, a Tulane University master's student from Honduras who speaks English, is the eyes and ears to the world for several of the Peruvians, Guatemalans and Ecuadoreans living at the motel.
"Normally when I get up, there's always someone I need to take somewhere," said Buchanan, a naturalized citizen. On Monday, a friend from Guatemala wanted to speak with a caseworkerat Catholic Community Services.
"The lines are long, so I stay all day," she said. "There is a list, and people write their name. I was Number 102."
Days before, FEMA deposited $2,000 directly into her bank account, she said. At the cheap motel, that pittance seems like an embarrassment of riches.
Mario Fletes, 31, a Honduran painter, said he is very frustrated, watching his wife and three sons worry.
"I went to get unemployment, and they said they couldn't process my Social Security number," which, he insisted, is legitimate. "I went to apply for food stamps. They told me to come back in two days. I went Thursday. I went Friday. Finally, they told me not to come back."
Wilkes said FEMA does not have enough Spanish-speaking officials to handle even those who work legally on farms, in hotels and in casinos.
But David Passey, a FEMA spokesman, disputed that. "We have Spanish-speaking operators on our registration phone lines," he said. "We understand the need to communicate with people in several different languages. If we have areas where we're lacking, advocacy groups can tell us. We're open to input."
Rony Reyes said his friends are almost out of money for the motel. Catholic Community Services of Baton Rouge paid the motel manager about $200 to keep some under a roof for a week.
