Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans who heavily criticized the President and his administration during the recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina is now embroiled in his own controversy.

At a town hall meeting with small business owners discussing the rebuilding efforts Mayor Nagin said “How do I make sure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?” in reference to the large number of Mexicans now involved in the clean up effort. Yet despite these inflammatory remarks there has been very little outcry. The only condemnation from the Hispanic community that I can find has come from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I checked the web sites of the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund and couldn’t find any references to the mayors statement. MALDEF may have issued a statement but since their search function was inoperable I wasn’t able to locate one. Though I doubt they would have issued one since it would have attacked a liberal and wouldn’t have advanced their agenda.

Apparently Nagin’s remarks have struck a chord with some in New Orleans. ABC World News tonight ran a clip last night with Oliver Thomas , President of the New Orleans City Council saying “Nothing against our Hispanic friends, but I have an affliction and my affliction is I love my people first.” Couple that with an interview conducted with a local black contractor who said that he would only hire black and you have a blatant case of racism that is largely being ignored because it didn’t emanate from the mouth of a WASPy conservative or republican.

The real concern though according to ABC reporter Steve Osunami isn’t that the jobs are going to the Mexicans, but that they plan to stay and could change the demographics of the city. If Ray Nagin loses his re-election bid next year maybe he can get a job with the Border Patrol.

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