A story in the Providence Journal (also accessible from this site) tells the story of Edgar Velázquez. An illegal immigrant, he was apparently employed by a tree care service. The owner reportedly knew he was illegal and paid him in cash, under the table. When he was working, without the protective headgear required for such work, a chainsaw blade “kicked back and sliced through his nose, left eyelid and forehead”.
The story indicates that his employer then arranged for immigration to deport him to avoid the issues of this accident.
One year ago, Edgar Velázquez slashed his face open with a chainsaw while working for a Warwick tree service company. The saw blade struck a fence, kicked back and sliced through his nose, left eyelid and forehead, leaving a flayed crimson channel and nearly exposed bone. Though a surgeon repaired his face, his wounds reopen and ooze, he said, and his pain lingers.
At the time, Velázquez was in the country illegally from Mexico, working for William J. Gorman Jr., owner of Billy G’s Tree Care. Velázquez said Gorman hired him despite knowing of his undocumented status.
Soon after his injury, Velázquez learned that he was entitled to seek compensation from his employer for his medical bills, permanent disfigurement and weekly benefits.
But Velázquez never had his day in court.
State law entitles undocumented workers to workers’ compensation benefits — as is true in many other states — but on the day of Velázquez’s scheduled hearing, on Aug. 2, immigration agents arrested him outside the J. Joseph Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence. Less than one month later, the 20-year-old was sent back to Mexico.
“I was about to get into the courthouse when Mr. Gorman said my name. He speaks a little Spanish. He says, ‘Edgar, Edgar, stop!’ So I turned around and Immigration was there. And then he [Gorman] laughed, and he said, ‘Now Edgar, I’m sending you back to Mexico — I have no use for you now,’ ” Velázquez said in a phone interview from Mexico. “He said, ‘Edgar, adiós.’ ”
I found this story at WorkingImmigrants.com which has much more information as background.
As that site notes, “There is quite a lot of passion around the issue of ‘illegal immigrants,’ but far too little passion around the issue of ‘illegal employers.’”
