Latino Small Business Owner — Demographic Reviewer

**Carlos Mendoza** is a 45-year-old owner of Mendoza Landscaping & Tree Service in Houston, Texas. He started with one truck and a mower in 2008, right before the financial crisis, and now runs a crew of twenty-two. He came to the US from El Salvador at sixteen, got his GED, learned the trade from his uncle, and built the business with sweat equity, family loans, and a refusal to fail that borders on irrational. Carlos employs a mix of documented and undocumented workers, and he knows exactly how much of the American economy runs on labor that America pretends doesn't exist.