The images of the rescue efforts after the storm left the nation wondering what kind of city New Orleans really was. The Superdome and the Convention Center were packed with poor black faces that must have seemed strange to much of America. Images showed a city that was obviously wind blasted and flooded, but it was also apparent that even the before-images would have shocked the nation with its decay and squalor.

The people that took refuge in the Superdome trashed and looted the facility. TV interviews of evacuees reinforced the feeling that these were ignorant, unproductive, and worst of all, unappreciative people, not "real Americans" like those that you would find in L.A., New York or Houston. Reports of looting, arson and shooting at first-responders left America angry  (as it turns out many of these reports were exaggerated and some even fabricated).  Crimes have been reported daily in the cities and schools now hosting the evacuees. Criminals and sex offenders were found among the evacuees. Host cities were shocked that they had accepted these undesirables. (re: Mariel boatlifts, 1980)

Eighteen months after the storm Houston Police were still fighting a surge in crime attributable to the New Orleans evacuees in their midst. The criminals are finding Houston a tougher place to avoid justice so many have returned home. Remember the enterprising young fellow who stole a school bus and took the first load of evacuees from the Fischer Housing project to the Astrodome. He is in jail in Houston on drug charges. Charlie Elloie might have let him go if he had been caught dealing coke here in N.O. Crime is up in Jefferson Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Baton Rouge, and Houston. Dallas, Little Rock and even Memphis have felt the impact. Pundits around New Orleans are worried that in the event of an evacuation in 2006 surrounding communities might be unwilling to accept New Orleanians.