I was motivated to write this after a recent trip to San Diego, where I had the opportunity to meet with a group of teachers from New Orleans. Our conversation quickly moved beyond education and into something deeper, their city, its people, and the long road back after Hurricane Katrina. As they reflected on the years following the storm, one theme kept resurfacing: the indispensable role Hispanic workers played in rebuilding New Orleans. Their stories stayed with me long after the meeting ended.
Nearly two decades after Katrina devastated the city, New Orleans remains a testament to resilience. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out, critical infrastructure was destroyed, and much of the local workforce was displaced. In the months and years that followed, tens of thousands of Hispanic workers, many arriving from Mexico and Central America, came to New Orleans to help fill an overwhelming labor gap. They rebuilt homes, repaired roofs, restored historic buildings, reopened schools, and helped bring hospitals back online. Their labor did more than reconstruct structures; it accelerated the city’s recovery and helped restore hope.
For years, these contributions went largely unrecognized. Hispanic workers often labored under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions, facing wage theft, housing instability, and limited legal protections. Yet their impact was undeniable. In 2018, New Orleans took an important step toward acknowledging that reality with the installation of a monument in Crescent Park honoring Latino workers who helped rebuild the city after Katrina. When I first learned about the statue, it felt like a powerful and long-overdue gesture, one that made visible what had too often been overlooked.
What happened in New Orleans is not an isolated story. Across the country, Hispanic workers are the backbone of the construction industry.
Today, nearly one in three construction workers in the United States is Hispanic. They are skilled tradespeople, foremen, project managers, and increasingly, business owners. Hispanic-owned construction firms are among the fastest-growing in the industry, creating jobs, expanding housing supply, and strengthening local economies.
At the same time, the construction industry faces a persistent workforce shortage—one that continues to grow as demand for housing and infrastructure increases. These challenges are compounded by a broken immigration system that fails to reflect economic realities. Immigration reform is not merely a social issue; it is a workforce and economic imperative. Creating legal pathways for workers who are already contributing would bring stability to the industry, improve jobsite safety, and support long-term growth.
The monument in New Orleans is more than a statue. It is a reminder of who shows up in times of crisis and who quietly does the work that allows communities to recover. My conversation with those teachers reinforced what builders across the country already know: Hispanic workers are essential to America’s present and future. Honoring their contributions means more than recognition, it requires policies that allow them to continue building this country with dignity and opportunity.
And the next time a politician says they cannot take a position on immigration because they might lose their seat or face a primary challenge, we should remind them of something simple and fundamental:
It is not their seat. It is our seat.
It belongs to the voters who entrusted them to represent our values, our priorities, and our voice. It is not theirs to protect, it is ours to grant.