Immigrant labor exploitation and resistance in the post-Katrina Deep South: Success through legal advocacy

This work examines the labor conditions experienced by a primarily Latina/o immigrant labor force following the massive devastation in the Deep-South in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I argue that immigrant workers have been targeted as an exploitable workforce by the state, multinational corporations, and contractors to perform the difficult and dangerous work of clean-up and rebuilding in the affected region. The recruitment of large numbers of primarily Latino men to the Deep South has resulted in a demographic shift throughout the entire South. The movement of immigrant men has initiated an increase in the number of immigrant women entering the work force in the Middle South, creating diasporas in immigrant communities. An investigation of legal advocacy by the Southern Poverty Law Center exposes the extreme conditions and practices of labor exploitation employed by corporations and contractors in the rebuilding of the hurricane-affected regions. Also discussed are the impacts to the labor force throughout the entire South, with particular attention to legal advocacy needs of immigrant women. The legal advocacy of the Southern Poverty Law Center serves as a model in the protection of the human, civil, and labor rights of immigrant workers.