PALM BEACH POST May 10, 2006
Glades workers petition FEMAPalm Beach Post Staff Writer Half a year has passed since Hurricane Wilma hit, and at least 200 farmworkers in the Glades haven't gotten the help they need from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a civil rights complaint the Farmworker Association of Florida filed Tuesday. All of those farmworkers were poor, black, Hispanic or didn't speak much English. According to the complaint: FEMA inspectors were rude to residents as they surveyed damage. Few if any translators were on hand to help Spanish-speaking residents. That made it hard for residents to relay problems or question what they felt were careless inspections. Often, FEMA inspectors simply poked their heads into homes — mainly trailers — and didn't notice damaged areas. Even when residents did get monetary relief, it wasn't enough to fix the problem. One story goes like this: A black resident says the hurricane left gaping holes in her mobile home's roof and side, breaking windows, too. The inspector took one photo of her kitchen, the least damaged area. Many families are still waiting for mobile homes FEMA promised them, meanwhile living with leaking roofs, damaged walls or on friend's couches in the meantime. "It's the textbook case of discrimination," said Cullin O'Brien of Florida Legal Services, the Miami law firm that filed the complaint with FEMA's Office of Equal Rights. "We don't not help people because they're poor, because they don't speak English. That's just not how America operates." FEMA officials said the agency doesn't comment on current complaints or litigation. But spokesman James McIntyre clarified one point the complaint raised. If residents note on applications they have language needs, translators typically accompany inspectors. Yet, even if translators aren't there, an inspector can do his job. "It's a visual inspection of the property, not a conversation between he and the applicant," McIntyre said. The farmworker association filed the complaint because FEMA didn't respond to earlier requests for help, said Tirso Moreno, general coordinator for the nonprofit organization, which represents thousands of farmworker families from Central America and Haiti. "They didn't want to do a good inspection," Moreno said. "They looked the other way." FEMA's Office of Equal Rights is expected to send a team to the Glades to check out the situation. The farmworker association also is unhappy with how FEMA treated undocumented workers after recent hurricanes. On May 17, it expects the agency to respond to a February lawsuit it filed alleging FEMA didn't give undocumented workers the aid they were due — mainly temporary housing. Undocumented immigrants can get short-term, non-cash emergency help from FEMA. Permanent residents and citizens can get cash assistance.
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