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A Latino Worker, a Risky Construction Site and a Family in Mourning. Construction workers, many of them undocumented, continue to die on the job in New York City, despite safety regulations.
New York Times ^ | February 17, 2020 | Andrea Salcedo and Derek M. Norman

Posted on 02/17/2020 2:56:24 PM PST by karpov

A week before the accident, Segundo Huerta’s wife said, her husband had complained to her that the boss at the Bronx construction site where he was working was pressuring his laborers, berating them for working too slowly.

Mr. Huerta’s wife, Maria Guazhco, said her husband had told her that after 17 years with the company, he would try to find another job. Nonetheless, she said, he returned to the site the next week.

“And then,” Ms. Guazhco, 39, said, “everything collapsed.”

Mr. Huerta, 46, was killed on Aug. 27 after the third floor of the building where he was working crumbled, burying and trapping his body under hundreds of pounds of rubble.

He was one of 12 people, 10 of them Latino, who died in construction-related accidents last year, according to preliminary data from the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a workers’ safety advocacy group, and the Department of Buildings. The number of construction-related deaths has been consistent for the past four years.

Mr. Huerta’s death reflects the dangers that persist at New York construction sites despite the reams of rules and regulations the city has imposed to protect workers, many of whom, like Mr. Huerta, are Latino and undocumented. The families left behind have little recourse to fill the financial void created by such tragedies.

From 2006 to 2016, nearly half of the workers at nonunion job sites in the city were Hispanic or Latino, compared with about 30 percent at union sites, according to Lawrence Mishel, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. The slice of workers at nonunion sites who are Hispanic or Latino is probably more than 50 percent now, Mr. Mishel said.

Undocumented workers are less likely to have the same safeguards as other workers.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; US: New York
KEYWORDS: aliens; construction; illegal; nyc
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Companies that break the law by employing illegals also cut other corners. Why don't we require businesses to use E-Verify and shut down those that hire illegals?
1 posted on 02/17/2020 2:56:24 PM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

If we built a wall and booted the illegals out, this guy would still be alive, in Mexico.


2 posted on 02/17/2020 3:00:58 PM PST by NativeSon ( What Would Virginia Do? #WWVD)
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To: karpov
"many of them undocumented"

Would the left use the term "undocumented" to defend anything else? Would they praise an "undocumented" doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, teacher, or journalist? Doesn't the leftist media gripe about "undocumented" journalists, i.e., journalists who don't meet their criteria of legitimacy?
3 posted on 02/17/2020 3:01:55 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: karpov
If I were an illegal alien working at that site, I would have been on
notice from day one, that my employer was willing to break the law
for a fast buck.

Not really in the mood to shed a tear over this.

I don't like seeing illegal aliens abused, but it is a matter of choice.

That person made his choice.

4 posted on 02/17/2020 3:03:41 PM PST by DoughtyOne (The DNC has a taxidermist on speed dial for Nancy, Hillary, and Ruth.)
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To: karpov

So the NYSlimes wants better working conditions for illegal aliens, huh? If they supported ONLY legal immigration, they wouldn’t have illegals getting killed in the first place! RIP to those who died.


5 posted on 02/17/2020 3:10:08 PM PST by Amberdawn (Want To Honor Our Troops? Then Be A Citizen Worth Fighting For.)
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To: karpov

Segundo Huerta...

What happened to Primero Huerta? Another construction accident?

I wonder if there’ll be a Tercero Huerta?


6 posted on 02/17/2020 3:12:29 PM PST by moovova
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To: karpov

If they hadn’t broken our immigration/residency/labor laws they’d probably still be alive.


7 posted on 02/17/2020 3:16:43 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: DoughtyOne

Note that the illegal alien was also willing to break the law for a fast buck. They were both playing a game, one on one side and one on the other


8 posted on 02/17/2020 3:17:19 PM PST by Balding_Eagle ( The Great Wall of Trump ---- 100% sealing of the border. Coming soon.)
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To: Balding_Eagle

That’s right.


9 posted on 02/17/2020 3:21:57 PM PST by DoughtyOne (The DNC has a taxidermist on speed dial for Nancy, Hillary, and Ruth.)
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To: karpov
Today’s hardhats are not the same guys who fought the hippies back in the day.

That being said this is a tragedy and an example of regression to 100-120 years ago when Italians of questionable immigration status were exploited by the same folks.

10 posted on 02/17/2020 3:34:08 PM PST by Clemenza
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To: karpov
Mr. Huerta’s death reflects the dangers that persist at New York construction sites despite the reams of rules and regulations the city has imposed ...

The irony is apparently lost on the New York Times. If I owned a business in a city that goes to such great lengths to protect people who are living in this country illegally, I wouldn’t feel obligated to obey a single rule or regulation that city imposed on me — let alone REAMS of them.

11 posted on 02/17/2020 3:39:25 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("Oh, but it's hard to live by the rules; I never could and still never do.")
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To: karpov

Demonicrats love them some illegal slaves.


12 posted on 02/17/2020 3:52:29 PM PST by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: karpov
Why the NYT Must Die

NY Times is the enemy of your free speech

Pulitzer-Winning Lies (NY Times)

13 posted on 02/17/2020 3:52:43 PM PST by T Ruth (Mohammedanism shall be destroyed.)
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To: karpov

I thought (correction, I know) buildings are supposed to be inspected during the building process. I am also pretty darn sure that NYC is likely to require that plans be drawn and sealed by an engineer. Does that engineer also perform the inspections or at least coordinate with city inspectors?

Why is this article about the worker’s being Latino and not about the obvious blatant failure of the city’s permitting, inspection, and building process?


14 posted on 02/17/2020 3:59:20 PM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: karpov

Remember, Biden said illegal aliens are a gift to our country.


15 posted on 02/17/2020 4:38:25 PM PST by kickstart ("A gun is a tool. It is only as good or as bad as the man who uses it" . Alan Ladd in 'Shane')
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To: karpov


16 posted on 02/17/2020 4:38:29 PM PST by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: karpov

And I should care, WHY?


17 posted on 02/17/2020 4:45:22 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: karpov

I writing from ignorance here, but I thought that construction jobs were pretty high paid—especially in NYC. Also, I imagine, unionized. So how are illegal aliens being allowed to work at NYC job sites?


18 posted on 02/17/2020 5:31:01 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: karpov

Progressivism at work.


19 posted on 02/17/2020 6:36:10 PM PST by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
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To: karpov

Deport all illegal aliens.

If it only saves one life, it would be worth it.


20 posted on 02/17/2020 6:36:55 PM PST by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents_Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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