Who's Rebuilding New Orleans?

"While much has been made of shifting black-white ratios and relations in post-Katrina New Orleans, an influx of Latino construction workers – documented and un – is having its own impact on the city, although with far less public notice, according to new studies from Vanderbilt and Tulane universities.

...In a survey of construction workers in the city conducted by Tulane University and University of California/Berkeley (UCB) researchers, 50% of the 200 workers contacted were Latino, and more than half of those said they were illegal immigrants of Mexican and Central American origins. Whether or not these workers will remain in New Orleans is unclear, but it appears settlement is occurring, reports Katharine M. Donato, a sociology professor at Vanderbilt University who is studying shifting demographics in the three Gulf states affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita."