Katrina Coverage

From the AP's "Workers sent to Miss. complain about conditions":
Two Lawrence residents who responded to a flier looking for workers to help with Hurricane Katrina disaster relief say they feel scammed...
[promised 40 hr. weeks, etc.]
...they then were sent to work clearing debris at MGM Mirage's $800-million Beau Rivage casino. They say they were fed bologna sandwiches and Oreo cookies, told their work days would be up to 16 hours long and that they would be bused to a hotel two hours away where they could sleep for four hours before returning to work.
"I felt like we got scammed pretty good," Tucker said.
Tucker and Dalton wanted to leave but said they were told they could be shot by National Guardsmen enforcing martial law and that there was no transportation home...
..."We're certainly sorry that the people had a problem; we're certainly doing the best we can," said Teri Hill, a spokeswoman for BMS Catastrophe Inc., which is in charge of refurbishing the Beau Rivage. "It's a mess down there."
Mike Mansingh of One Source Staff and Labor, the Overland Park firm that recruited the workers, said work conditions were unexpectedly bad...
...The day after Dalton and Tucker arrived, Mansingh arranged for a school bus to carry them home. The two said they felt sorry for the workers they left behind - people they said were mostly poor, unemployed and often unable to speak English...
It sounds highly possible that the latter people could be illegal aliens.