New Orleans continues to suffer a 'civil rights disaster' nearly a year after being devastated by Hurricane Katrina, according to lawyers working with those affected. Displaced residents are being prevented from returning for political reasons and there is a problem with 'rampant' discrimination, employment and immigration law violations, said Judith Browne, a lawyer with the Advancement Project. She claimed that local authorities have refused to release public housing, even though it was unaffected by the storm and habitable, as part of a policy of preventing poorer residents from returning to the city. She also said building contractors were employing illegal immigrants and paying below the minimum wage. Theodore Shaw, a lawyer with the legal defence fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was critical of the local elections that followed the hurricane for not allowing displaced residents to vote. 'For a country that bragged about providing out-of-country polling facilities for Iraq's elections, it is a shame and a sham that we couldn't provide out-of-state polling plans for our own citizens,' he said.