LAS VEGAS (AP) — In an America struggling with the economic impact of coronavirus, the AP Road Trip team headed to Las Vegas, where armies of unemployed housekeepers and waitresses are struggling with unemployment.

For decades, working-class neighborhoods here called out to foreigners. Beckoned by an ever-growing city with a seemingly endless appetite for workers, they came from Ethiopia and India and the Philippines — but mostly from Latin America, especially Mexico. They changed Las Vegas.

But the city’s economy has been shattered by the pandemic. To be an immigrant in Las Vegas is to see the coronavirus economy at its worst.

  • Norma Flores carries her groceries into her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. She lives in a concrete block house with six grandchildren, most of them doing school online. She dreads when she overhears a teacher asking what students had for their lunches and snacks. She rarely has enough food for both. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Casinos and other businesses are seen reflected in the glass walls of an overpass along the Las Vegas Strip. The coronavirus hit the Las Vegas economy particularly hard. Visitors to the area plummeted by more than 90 percent in a little over a month. The state’s unemployment rocketed to 28 percent, the worst in the nation and a level not seen even during the Great Depression. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores drives to a grocery store near her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. At night, she often lies awake, worrying about paying the rent, buying gas, getting enough food. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A homeless person sleeps on an overpass along the Las Vegas Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Las Vegas sells itself on fantasies of wealth, luxury, and sex. The reality feels more like a mixture of the endless mall and Disney-ish resort set to the music of amplified slot machines. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Workers take a cigarette break outside the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. To be an immigrant in Las Vegas is to see the coronavirus economy at its worst. Visitors to the area plummeted by more than 90 percent in a little over a month. The state’s unemployment rocketed to 28 percent, the worst in the nation and a level not seen even during the Great Depression. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores, 54, poses for a portrait in her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A doll belonging to a grandchild of Norma Flores lies on the ground in the backyard of her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. At night, she often lies awake, worrying about paying the rent, buying gas, getting enough food. Like millions of other people across the U.S., her unemployment benefits run out the day after Christmas. She’s terrified her family could end up homeless. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • The office of the Culinary Workers Union is seen through a car window in Las Vegas, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. The union represents 60,000 people, most of them immigrants, in the Las Vegas area who work in the hospitality industry. More than half of the members represented by the union are currently out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores, 54, pays for her groceries at a store near her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. At night, she often lies awake, worrying about paying the rent, buying gas, getting enough food. Like millions of other people across the U.S., her unemployment benefits run out the day after Christmas. She’s terrified her family could end up homeless. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A car is parked in front of a mural in downtown Las Vegas, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. For decades, the working-class neighborhoods that circle Las Vegas called out to foreigners, who came from dozens of other countries, especially Mexico. They changed Las Vegas and Nevada. One in five of the state’s residents are immigrants, according to the American Immigration Council, and one in six are native-born citizens with at least one immigrant parent. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A woman sits at a slot machine in a casino in Las Vegas, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Las Vegas sells itself on fantasies of wealth, luxury, and sex, and even the most cynical first-time visitor can come here expecting at least a hint of James Bond playing baccarat in Monte Carlo. That would be a mistake. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores, 54, folds the laundry while her son works on his bicycle at their home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. Now, her empire is a concrete block house crowded with six grandchildren, most of them doing school online. She dreads when she overhears a teacher asking what students had for their lunches and snacks. She rarely has enough food for both. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A mural decorates the wall of a building in downtown Las Vegas, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • People stand in front of electronic slot machines in a Casino in Las Vegas, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. Las Vegas sells itself on fantasies of wealth, luxury, and sex, and even the most cynical first-time visitor can come here expecting at least a hint of James Bond playing baccarat in Monte Carlo. The reality feels more like a mixture of the endless mall and Disney-ish resort set to the music of amplified slot machines. Gamblers wear jeans and shorts, not tuxedoes. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores, 54, walks with her grandson at her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. Now, her empire is a concrete block house crowded with six grandchildren, most of them doing school online. She dreads when she overhears a teacher asking what students had for their lunches and snacks. She rarely has enough food for both. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • People are silhouetted as they take photos of the fountains at the Bellagio hotel-casino along the Las Vegas Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Las Vegas sells itself on fantasies of wealth, luxury, and sex, and even the most cynical first-time visitor can come here expecting at least a hint of James Bond playing baccarat in Monte Carlo. That would be a mistake. Vegas feels more like a mixture of the endless mall and Disney-ish resort set to the music of amplified slot machines. Gamblers wear jeans and shorts, not tuxedoes. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Women dressed as scantily-clad police officers pose for photos with a man on the Las Vegas Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Las Vegas sells itself on fantasies of wealth, luxury, and sex, and even the most cynical first-time visitor can come here expecting at least a hint of James Bond playing baccarat in Monte Carlo. That would be a mistake. Vegas feels more like a mixture of the endless mall and Disney-ish resort set to the music of amplified slot machines. Gamblers wear jeans and shorts, not tuxedoes. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • People walk along the Las Vegas Strip, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. Things have gotten better in Las Vegas since casinos were allowed to reopen in June, following the springtime shutdowns to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. But the number of visitors is still just half of what it was a year ago. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Two men walk past the El Cortez hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. Things have gotten better in Las Vegas since casinos were allowed to reopen in June, following the springtime shutdowns to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. But the number of visitors is still just half of what it was a year ago. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A couple poses for wedding photographs in the Red Rock National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • A bull dressed in a tuxedo is stored at the back of a parking lot in Las Vegas, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
  • Norma Flores checks for traffic behind her as she drives to a grocery store near her home in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job. At night, she often lies awake, worrying about paying the rent, buying gas, getting enough food for her family. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Flores is a Mexican immigrant who spent two decades working as a waitress at the Fiesta before COVID-19 descended and she lost her job.

She lives in a concrete block house with six grandchildren, most of them doing school online. She dreads when she overhears a teacher asking what students had for their lunches and snacks. She rarely has enough food for both.

This Associated Press story was produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.