Global Lives, Local Struggles: Latin American Immigrants in Atlanta

• Main Author: Mary Odem
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Emory Center for Digital Scholarship 2006-05-01
• Series: Southern Spaces
• Subjects: Global South; Industry and Labor; Latino Studies; Migration; Religion and Spirituality; @Emory
• Online Access: https://southernspaces.org/node/42445

Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of men and a growing number of women and children from Mexico and other parts of Latin America have migrated to the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan region to find work in its thriving economy. According to the Census, Atlanta has experienced the most rapid Hispanic growth rate of all major US metro areas during these years. As a new immigrant destination, Atlanta has presented distinct opportunities and constraints to Mexicans and Central Americans seeking to live and work there. Immigrants have been drawn by the huge demand for labor in the construction, landscaping, restaurant, and service industries, and by the availability of cheap housing in form of numerous low-rent apartment buildings. But they have also faced serious restrictions and discrimination as low-wage immigrant laborers, particularly the large number of undocumented workers. Despite these constraints, Latino immigrants have created cultural spaces for themselves. One of these is a Latino-Catholic mission where immigrants can practice their faith in a familiar and welcoming environment and find the social and spiritual resources to deal with the hardships of migration and adaptation to life in the US.