Posted on 01/25/2004 6:25:53 PM PST by FourPeas
His thick, gnarled fingers and muscular arms give him away.
Mexico native David Sanchez, 46, is a man accustomed to tough, physical labor.
The West Michigan resident is also an undocumented worker -- who finds himself at the center of a closely watched legal fight over a claim for workers' compensation.
At stake is a fundamental question: Are those who illegally cross our borders entitled to the same job benefits as American citizens?
"I'm doing everything the citizen is supposed to do. I am contributing to society," Sanchez says in Spanish. "Why shouldn't I have rights like the other people?"
A closer look at the Muskegon man's right hand reveals the remnants of the 1998 injury that prompted the case: a prominent scar on the back of his hand and on the palm and middle fingers, blistered, scarred skin that never fully healed. At stake is perhaps $70,000 in unpaid benefits he believes he should collect.
A collection of advocacy groups agrees with him, in a case before the Michigan Supreme Court. It's the first time the issue has reached the state's high court.
As debate continues over the nation's estimated 8 to 10 million undocumented immigrants, Sanchez's case underlines the conflicted ways this shadowy subclass of American society is viewed. President Bush revived the issue earlier this month when he proposed that undocumented workers be allowed to work up to three years under a permit, then return to their home country.
To some, illegal residents should be issued a one-way ticket back to their home countries. They not only broke the law, the argument goes, they take American jobs.
Advocates say it's hypocritical to deny them rights since they fill low-paying jobs that others refuse to fill. Workers like Sanchez pay taxes without the right to collect most welfare benefits, they say. Indeed, in occupations from migrant laborer to meat packer to hotel maid, undocumented workers are considered more the rule than the exception.
Perched on the other side of this conflict is Eagle Alloy Inc., a Muskegon foundry where Sanchez went to work in March 1997. He is one of an estimated 40,000 undocumented immigrants who live and work in West Michigan.
In September 1998, Sanchez reached into a press machine to pull out a metal part that had jammed. The press closed, crushing his right hand and burning the skin on the top and palm of his hand.
After seven surgeries and physical therapy, he was cleared to return to work. In August 1999, Eagle Alloy fired Sanchez when company officials discovered his Social Security number was phony. He was told his compensation benefits would also stop.
After several lower court findings, the case is expected to be heard this spring by the state Supreme Court. Lawyers for Sanchez maintain he's entitled to benefits even after he was fired since state law provides that "aliens" are covered as well as citizens.
But a provision of the law exempts employers from paying compensation if a worker cannot work because of imprisonment or "commission of a crime." Eagle Alloy maintains it's not required to pay compensation because Sanchez -- by virtue of his fraudulent application and illegal status -- committed a crime.
Eagle Alloy doesn't dispute how hard Sanchez worked for the company, labor that earned him $8 an hour.
"My client always said, 'David Sanchez is a great employee,' " said Thomas Cypher, a lawyer for Eagle Alloy.
But Cypher said Eagle Alloy had no choice but to fire Sanchez when it learned he was here illegally. Cypher said they would have hired him back if he gained legal status.
"It's that simple," Cypher said.
Other cases continue to test the boundaries of what it means to be an undocumented worker, even at firms as all-American as Wal-Mart.
In November, a group of nine undocumented workers arrested in a federal raid on Wal-Mart stores sued the retail group over alleged discrimination. The workers, employed as janitors by subcontractors, say they were paid lower wages and offered fewer benefits. They were among 250 people arrested in an October immigration crackdown at 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states.
Wal-Mart officials said they had no idea the subcontractors hired undocumented workers.
Past warnings
David Neal, the lawyer for David Sanchez, finds that hard to believe about Eagle Alloy. He noted that federal officials informed the company in June 1999 that 63 of its employees had false Social Security numbers. That's more than a fifth of its work force.
"It at least raises the question as to the employers' knowledge," Neal said.
And with an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan, the case is clearly about more than one man's workers' compensation claim.
Among those watching is the New York City-based National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit advocacy group for the poor and unemployed.
"It implicates a lot of bigger questions," said Amy Sugimori, a staff attorney for the group.
If Eagle Alloy wins, Sugimori said, it might send a message to other employers to hire undocumented workers without fear of having to pay workers' compensation.
"They might seek out undocumented workers," she said.
But Eagle Alloy treasurer Connie Larson said it's not easy for employers to check who's legal and who isn't. Federal rules prohibit companies from verifying Social Security numbers until after employees are hired.
"You just hired him," Larson said. "Then you have to go through the process of firing him."
Federal guidelines require all employers to keep employment verification records known as I-9 forms, to be filled out after an employee is hired. The employer is also expected to ask for documents that prove an individual's identity.
Documents for sale
Larson said small companies like Eagle Alloy don't have the manpower to check each employee to see that they submitted legal documents. Larson declined to talk about the specifics of the Sanchez case. But she said forged Social Security cards are standard tools of the undocumented worker.
"You don't know that they purchased the number from somebody else," Larson said. "It's too easy in this country to purchase the documents that they need."
Indeed, fake Social Security cards can be readily had in Chicago for $200, according to Teresa Hendricks-Smitley, executive director of the Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance Project in Grand Rapids.
"They do need that number," she said.
Sanchez bought his Social Security card in California for $30, not long after he crossed the border there in 1989. He entered with the help of a "coyote," a paid smuggler who waited for him in a car a few miles from the border. His wife, Martha, 45, crossed in 1991 and their seven children followed in 1993.
Like virtually all undocumented workers from Mexico, Sanchez came here looking for economic opportunity. In central Mexico, he recalled, he earned $10 a week in a leather factory.
"It was hard to feed everybody," Sanchez said. "My children were growing up. We couldn't afford books."
Sanchez worked for a time as a forklift driver in a factory near Los Angeles, then moved to Michigan in 1997.
"I heard that they paid a little better in Michigan," he said.
At the time of his accident, he was working 80 hours a week, 40 hours at Eagle Alloy and 40 hours at another foundry where he earned $9 an hour.
As he awaits a decision in his case, he is working another factory job. Sanchez said he's not looking for any special help to make in here. He expects to earn his way.
"I need to work," he said.
But he believes that he's entitled to collect the same benefits as those lucky enough to have been born in this country.
"The United States gives a lot of opportunity," he said. "If you're a good worker and you work hard you will make it."
Here's the crux of the whole thing. Now the Bush bots who screamed about the 'rule of law' with Clinton will come out and defend this crap. If the law is ignored when it's not convenient, what good is it?
And border laws are not unjust, so don't anybody try the 'civil disobedience' line.
Yes, he is. But the company hired him. The article also says, "...federal officials informed the company in June 1999 that 63 of its employees had false Social Security numbers. That's more than a fifth of its work force."
Do you think that they were really unaware of this? I'm not sure. There are definitely some questions to be answered.
I suppose his seven (!) kids don't go to school?
"It was hard to feed everybody," Sanchez said. "My children were growing up. We couldn't afford books."
I guess he couldn't afford contraceptives either.
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