On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Southern Gulf Coast. Drawn by reconstruction work, the number of Latino immigrants has nearly doubled. Reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina drew thousands of people from India, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, and other Latin American countries. Workers were charged with pulling dead bodies from abandoned homes and rebuilding New Orleans. But the influx of migrant workers also increased immigration crackdowns.

Making Contact’s Jasmin Lopez follows Jose Monterubio, a reconstruction worker. He tells us about his detention and how he stands for immigrant rights with the support of Congress of Day Laborers. Next, Jose Torres Tama recites Corporate Coyotes Smuggle Immigrant Workers, a poem from his book Immigrant Dreams, Alien Nightmares.

Ten years later after hurricane Katrina, it’s estimated there are nearly 100,000 fewer African Americans living in the city of New Orleans. Andrew Stelzer visits the Lower 9th Ward Living Museum, to learn how some are trying to preserve the lessons and legacies of the past. And we talk to a resident of one of the ultramodern homes built by Brad Pitt’s Make it Right project.

As a new lower 9th ward emerges, what will it look like and who will be included in the remake?

Featuring:

Luis Medina, immigrant reconstruction worker
Jose Monterrubio, immigrant reconstruction worker
Jose Torres-Tama, artist
Robert Green, Lower 9th Ward resident
Beck Cooper, Director of the Lower 9th Ward Living Museum

Changing Communities, Imminent Threats: Katrina’s Legacy