In the bathroom, the apartment management peeled the wallpaper off but never painted the walls. It's been two months and still, he says, the landlord hasn't fixed the window. The carpet looks like the coat of a mangy dog, with spots so worn you can see the burlap backing on the other side. Dozens of cockroaches swarm the kitchen counter.
Paint peels off the basin of the sink and the bathtub.
But Raul, like Lupe, figures he doesn't have much recourse. To complain too loudly runs the risk of getting deported. By contrast, the non-Hispanic population of the three counties increased by only 14 percent since 1990. The rate of growth in Georgia's Hispanic population puts the state behind only Arkansas, Nevada and North Carolina. With record numbers of immigrants arriving, more are being forced to live in squalor.