Unskilled Jobs Draw Migrants, Changing Face Of Small Towns Across America
A meatpacking town in the Texas Panhandle is a magnet for immigrants who will do unpopular jobs. The once majority-white county has adjusted to its more diverse population.
It is the 8 a.m. assembly at Cactus Elementary School, located on the bleak plains of the Texas Panhandle. Kids with colorful backpacks and sleepy eyes sit cross-legged on the gym floor while their principal kick-starts the day: "Good morning, Cactus Elementary!" The students crow in response.
Many of them come from poor villages in faraway lands — Central America, Somalia, Myanmar, Congo, Haiti — and they're clearly thrilled to be in school.
Principal T.J. Funderburg welcomes them all. "We need a world map to map where everybody comes from," he intones in the microphone. "But we're all here."
Over the past year, student enrollment at Cactus Elementary has surged
