As Florida residents emerged from Hurricane Idalia on Thursday, some have started to assess the trail of destruction the storm left behind — and this included a group of Latinos who started cleaning up the severely damaged hotel where they work.
Alberto, Maggie and Jorge Vidal were among dozens of construction and agricultural workers who sheltered inside a 30-room hotel in the city of Perry. The Vidals had relocated to Florida from Mexico a year ago to work in construction, and Idalia was the first hurricane they’ve ever endured.
“In Mexico, we had never experienced a catastrophe like this,” Jorge Vidal told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish. He recalled hearing the windows of the hotel crack. The wind gusts that seeped in blew everything away, including parts of the hotel’s ceiling, and the rain flooded some of the rooms.
Shortly after the storm passed, the Vidals, who also work in the hotel where they sheltered, started cleaning up the debris and assessing the damage even before the hotel’s manager was able to return to the building, Noticias Telemundo reported.
That’s when it became clear to Maggie Vidal that immigrant construction workers like herself will be key to rebuilding what Idalia destroyed.
Damages from Idalia could surpass $9 billion, according to an estimate from UBS Bank.
“This is where all the immigrants that the governor wants to push out are needed,” Maggie Vidal told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish. “Who is going to do all of this work? There is a lot, a lot of work here.”
Maggie Vidal was referencing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stringent immigration law that went into effect July 1. The law, also known as SB 1718, imposes restrictions and penalties to deter the employment of undocumented workers in Florida.
The law makes it a felony to “knowingly and willfully” transport an undocumented person into the state (including relatives and acquaintances), invalidates out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to immigrants who lack legal status and requires…
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