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In flood-ravaged Colorado, much of the recovery has focused on rebuilding roads and bridges to mountain towns cut off by last month's floods. But take a drive east to the state's rolling plains, and a whole new set of staggering problems unfolds in farm country.Living In LimboA woman named Claudia, who doesn't want to use her last name because of her immigration status, is sitting on a couch in the lobby of a shabby hotel in Greeley, about an hour's drive northeast of Denver.She's come because a friend has been staying here. Both women lost their homes when the flood waters wiped out the mobile home park in the nearby town of Evans."Where can we go?" Claudia says in Spanish. "We lost everything in the floods — all of our clothes, everything, from our 10 years living here."Her husband is trying to keep his construction job. The family has been told that they qualify for FEMA assistance because her youngest daughter was born in the U.S. and is a citizen. But the agency is still processing their application, and she doesn't know if it's been approved.The rental market here was already tight due to an oil boom. The women say landlords are preying on them, asking them questions like: "Have you received FEMA money? How much did you receive? What is your immigration status?" And the county hasn't returned her calls for help finding an apartment.These are common stories being told right now across this flooded region, where thousands of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador have flocked to jobs in the fields and the dairy and meatpacking industries."Many of these families that were displaced and taken out of their homes, and currently are homeless, are the workforce of northern Colorado," says Sonia Marquez of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.By the coalition's counts, hundreds of immigrant families have lost their homes. Some don't have any family members who are citizens and eligible for aid. Many are turning to private charities like hers, Marquez says. And some churches are trying to raise money to buy families new mobile homes.But money is tight. Almost everywhere you look around hard-hit towns like Evans, there's a need.
How bad is it? It sort of fell out of the news cycle.
Dang. Any chance of getting your friend to do a post? If the MSM won't cover it, it is up to us to get the word out.
Work comes first. And my prayers to both employees.
