Marisol Loredo and nephew, Bonifacio Rodriguez,
in family's meager trailer in Cameron County, Texas. Cameron Park has been named the nation's poorest place. The median income here is $4,100 a year.

America's still-huddling masses

Caught in the remnants of what once were legal but dishonest real-estate practices, many Mexican immigrants live in ramshackle subdivisions called colonias.

Until 1992, unscrupulous developers sold plots of land, some as small as 40 x 40 feet, in hastily subdivided plots that lacked water and sewage pipes, paved streets and electricity. Promises that basic services would be forthcoming often accompanied the handshake that sealed the deal. Years later, some residents of these areas still wait for services. Many of the buyers had little or no credit to their names, and developers and money lenders took advantage by offering loans at high interest rates. The effect for some is that they pay for years, but the principal doesn't go down.

Many colonia residents work as farm laborers, some in other low-paying jobs.

Above, Jose Coronado, 62, a retired farm laborer, ponders his situation in his trailer. Left, Aaron Reyes enjoys plays soccer in Colonia Las Salinas in Hidalgo County, Texas.

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