Illegal immigrants frequently denied compensation

[proud2BlibKansan]

Illegal immigrants frequently denied compensation
By LIZ CHANDLER
McClatchy Newspapers

Juan Palacios fell 12 feet through a glass table after a co-worker splashed hot tar on him. His employer's insurance company has refused to pay.

One man's struggle takes six years

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - Jose Hernandez was good with a machete. So he was the top choice when his boss needed someone to chop down young trees that were choking parts of Florida's Everglades.

On one trip to the swamps, the workers flew in by helicopter and quickly cut a stand of sprouting trees. But when they took off again, something went wrong: The chopper lurched left, then plunged into murky water.

A broken rotor blade slashed through Hernandez's left thigh.

Doctors saved his life, but couldn't save his leg.

more . . .
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/15527454.htm

[Erika]

1. Yes, illegal immigrants pay taxes

but are tossed out if hurt. The employer is in a win/win situation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. It's hard to believe that anyone who gets hurt at work

is not taken care of. It shouldn't matter what their citizenship status is.

[inthebrain]

5. I'm glad someone posted this

other than me.

A few months back I went on a tirade on this board against the anti immigrant lobby we have here. After all, there can be no defense of these folks in today's America. It's supposed to be a "slam dunk" issue.

The very same idiots that have been wrong on every economic matter have done a great job of running this debate. It's the same right wing douche bags who praise trickle down economics. It's very interesting to see these idiots who've never pumped gas or stocked shelves tell working people what's good for them. The sad things is that few working class people realize that they are duped into treating their fellow man like contraband.

Kudos for posting this!!!!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Thanks for the kind words

The anti immigrant rants here make me ill. Just yesterday I was accused of being anti American workers because I favor treating undocumented workers as human beings rather than criminals.

Funny thing is most of those who so vehemently oppose undocumented workers don't seem to post in many other threads. Makes me wonder if they are really Democrats or Progressives.

[AZBlue]

12. Millions of American citizens aren't covered.

eom

[ulysses]

14. which fact is not the fault of immigrants. n/t

[AZBlue]

15. But they can get coverage while citizens can't.

That's not right.

[EFerrari]

16. That's a rightwing myth. n/t

[AZBlue]

20. No it's not. It's absolute fact.

My best friend's mother works for the state and hands out benefits daily to illegal immigrants. Known, obvious illegal immigrants. And, it's perfectly legal.

Meanwhile, my mother, who can't work due to her health, can't get assistance, disability, and/or health care. And there are thousands of similar stories in this state alone.

Some myth.

[EFerrari]

24. Who is helping your mom? Access isn't about immigration status

it's about endurance. Yes, it's a myth. Hispanics of any status, citizens, residents or undocumented are way underserved.

Maybe you need to get your mom an advocate who can get her into the system. Which is unjust along no particular racial or immigration status lines at all. It tries to get rid of you. That's what bureaucrats are for.

[AZBlue]

28. Advocates cost money. If she had it, she'd spend it on health care.

But most illegal immigrants don't need advocates, so why should she? Why isn't is just as easy for her, a native-born US citizen? Maybe if a few less illegal immigrants got help, the state could afford to help her. But, oh no, let's help everyone else first and let the actual citizens of our country die off.

The thing that burns me the most is my tax dollars are going to help someone here illegally instead of my mother. Or anyone else's mother who's here legally. This is right? This is fair? We should put illegal immigrants' lives above and over citizens' lives? Because that is exactly what is happening now.

[EFerrari]

31. My friend, undocumented workers are a net gain to this economy.

They pay more than you do for most everything, so save your rage and place it in a more appropriate place.

There are plenty of cost-free places that advocate for people like your mom. I do it in my town. :)

If you PM me and tell me roughly what she needs and where she is, I'd be happy to try to find help for her. It's ridiculous that she's having to go through this and she has my sympathy. I've been fighting this so called "health care system" for a decade.

We really are on the same side!

/typin'

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. Advocates do NOT cost money

There are agencies in every state that employ advocates who do NOT charge clients for their services. A simple internet search would find your mom an advocate. There are also plenty of law firms that have pro-bono attorneys who help people like your mother.

[EFerrari]

41. Or, you can comb your neighborhood for a loudmouth like me.

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. If you are in KC, look me up

I am a pretty good loudmouth myself.

:rofl:

[EFerrari]

45. I have a feeling we could be a little scary.

:rofl:

[inthebrain]

26. This is faux class consciousness

not to mention anecdotal evidence. I suppose nothing will be said of contributions made by illegals to Medicare and Social Security. These are simple benefits that they pay tax for and never see returned.

Until you relize that depriving one deprives us all, you will always be stuck spinning your wheels in the mud. Immigrants are not denying you these services. The beougoisie rich bastards would love to see you use them as a scapegoat though.

So do the right wing white supremacists who have you duped. They have been working long and hard to get at you.


Right Woos left; True Gritz

One of the most visible attempts by rightists to recruit from the left involved the 1992 presidential candidacy of Bo Gritz. Gritz ran for president through a variety of local parties and groups, but his earliest candidacy this electoral round was under the banner of the fascist Populist Party. Even Readers Digest has called the Populist party a haven for neo-Nazis and ex-klansmen. The Populist Party was founded by Hitler apologist Willis Carto.

Bo Gritz is the point man in an effort to build a coalition of white supremacists, anti-Jewish bigots, neo-fascists, and paranoid gun nuts. At the same time Gritz has attracted a large audience of progressives with his anti-administration appeals.

Gritz promotes the ideas of the Christian Identity movement, although he claims he is not a follower of Identity. In a speech at Identity pastor Pete Peter's Colorado headquarters, Gritz acknowledged that Peters had helped publish and distribute his book Called to Serve, which is used to promote the Gritz presidential campaign.

Christian Identity is a religion that sees Jews as agents of Satan and considers African-Americans to be sub-human. Identity claims the United States is the real promised land and white Christians are the real children of Israel. Many proponents of Christian Identity seek to overthrow the "Zionist Occupational Government" in Washington, D.C. and establish an exclusively white Christian nation, or at least seize the states of the pacific northwest.

Gritz primarily seeks to build networks of support in reactionary and far-right circles. He made a presentation on "MIA/POW & Government Drug Dealers" at the Third Christian Heritage National Conference held in November of 1990 in Florida. Among other featured speakers were Bob Weems, Pete Peters, Col. Jack Mohr and other persons who promote Christian Identity. Also speaking were Eustace Mullins, who provided the "Total Conspiracy Update," and A.J. Barker, national chairman of the Populist Party.

The Populist Party ran former neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke for President in 1988 with Gritz as the original vice-presidential nominee. Gritz later dropped off the ticket to run for local office, and now makes excuses for his earlier affiliation with Duke.

Gritz claims he opposes racism and is trying to clean up the Populist Party. But Gritz continuously misrepresents the nature of the Populist Party and its ongoing leadership. An article in the September 1992 Soldier of Fortune magazine notes:

" Gritz also said he does not know Jerry Pope, chairman of Kentucky's Populist Party. Pope was once a prominent figure in the National States Rights Party founded by racist J.B. Stoner, who was imprisoned for the deaths of black children in the bombing of a Sunday school class in Birmingham, Alabama." Pope and Gritz are both listed as being on the Board of Advisers to the Populist Action Committee run by Liberty Lobby.

The Populist Party began promoting Gritz for President in the summer of 1991. The banner headline in the June, 1991 issue of The Populist Observer: Voice of the Populist Party was "Groundswell Building For Gritz Presidential Run." Gritz had addressed the Populist Party national convention in May 1991. The following month, The Populist Observer ran another banner headline proclaiming: "Gritz Populist Party Candidacy for President Official!"


http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/r...tml#P515_207773

[AZBlue]

29. So you prefer long diatribes to factual and personal evidence?

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
:sarcasm:

[inthebrain]

37. Personel evidence does not tell the whole story......

Neither does depriving the few so the many can benefit (or vice versa).

We all have to live this life together on this planet. Until you realize your relation to others you share class with, you will always be stuck in the quandry. The bulk of us spend our live manufacturing wealth for others with minimal rewards for the effort. Immigrant or citizen, we are all victimized by those who would rather we not realize our collective class interest while they realize theirs.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. That is absolute bullshit

Undocumented immigrants are NOT eligible for 'govt benefits. They do not get food stamps, TANF, routine health care or any other 'govt benefits'. This article explains they also get no care when injured at work.

This is a RW myth and has been debunked here on DU many many times.:eyes:

[ulysses]

17. well damn. the obvious solution

is to deny everybody coverage.

:freak:

[EFerrari]

18. Hey, that's Junior's Health Plan!

:rofl:

[AZBlue]

21. Yeah, that's a great plan. Thanks for your help.

:sarcasm:

[ulysses]

22. you had a better one?

:shrug:

[AZBlue]

23. Healthcare for everyone?

Duh.

[ulysses]

25. great!

But what has that got to do with immigrants?

[AZBlue]

30. Citizens first.

Why should they pay taxes to be denied the benefits? Most illegal immigrants don't pay taxes - you can't pay taxes without a social security number - so they aren't paying into the pot.

Once all citizens have coverage, I have no problem extending it to anyone and everyone else.

[EFerrari]

34. Most undocumented workers DO pay taxes. Where do you get

this stuff? :wow:

[ulysses]

35. so, isn't your fight with those

who don't want universal coverage?

Their opposition to it has squat to do with immigrants of whatever legal status.

[countryjake]

40. This article is a bit old, but it disproves what you're saying about taxes

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ex=1270353600&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ei=5090&partner=kmarx

~snip~

Starting in the late 1980's, the Social Security Administration received a flood of W-2 earnings reports with incorrect - sometimes simply fictitious - Social Security numbers. It stashed them in what it calls the "earnings suspense file" in the hope that someday it would figure out whom they belonged to.

The file has been mushrooming ever since: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's, two and a half times the amount of the 1980's.

In the current decade, the file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year, generating $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes.

In 2002 alone, the last year with figures released by the Social Security Administration, nine million W-2's with incorrect Social Security numbers landed in the suspense file, accounting for $56 billion in earnings, or about 1.5 percent of total reported wages.

Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant.

"Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes," said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration.

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. Where do you get this stuff?

Undocumented workers not only pay taxes, they also don't get refunds.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. Immigrants too?

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Your point would be?

[havocmom]

2. Low wages not only incentive for illegal employERS to hire illegal workers

Think how much they save on workers' comp premiums not paid, unemployment insurance fund not contributed to, OSHA rules ignored, and probably Social Security Employer contrubutions not made in many cases.

Round up the EMPLOYERS.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. They need to start putting these employers in jail

This article just makes me ill.

[EFerrari]

7. These are the cases I used to translate. And looking back,

there are a lot of places between legal and "illegal". Like when the government keeps you in limbo for years.

I've personally seen severely injured people enduring what amounted to torture as insurance companies forced them to undergo painful testing that lasted HOURS for no reason other than to make them go away. Their status didn't matter to THEIR PAIN.

Vultures.

:mad:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Glad you saw this

It made me cry. We are despicably cruel to these people. It is positively shameful.

[EFerrari]

10. This is where I learned about the "two Americas". Shameful. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Picture with article

[EFerrari]

13. Oh geeze! I think the worst case I ever worked was this one lady

who had worked CLEANING at one of those huge Foster Farms turkey farms. Her lungs were full of bacteria and she had all kinds of respiratory problems. Not only couldn't she speak much English, she couldn't take a deep breathe either. She was all of 30. :mad:

[AZBlue]

11. The employer should legally be made to pay his bills.

And then fined for hiring an illegal citizen.

[Marrah_G]

19. Sigh

This is why simply making illegal/undocumented immigrants legal won't help the situation. If we only do that then those now legal/documented immigrants will just be replaced by new because the companies have come to rely on cheap labor and do not want to worry about safety or benefits or fair pay. We need to crack down hard on employers AND finding a way to allow people to stay and prosper as long as they are law abiding.

[EFerrari]

27. Hi there, Marrah. Welcome to DU.

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. Fair wage legislation

and access by ALL workers to workman's comp is the best solution.

[EFerrari]

38. That's one of the fights of our lifetime. Reconstructing the New Deal.

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. Marah, welcome to DU!

:hi:

[foreverdem]

47. This is happening all over

Many undocumented immigrants also helped in the cleanup of Ground Zero in NYC, and are now finding themselves with major health problems like the other first responders from the toxic materials they handled and were exposed to. The government doesn't want to help the citizens who are now suffering illnesses, the undocumented workers know they have an uphill battle. Totally unfair.

[proud2BlibKansan]

48. I have heard estimates that at least 1000 undocumented

workers may have died in the WTC. Their families didn't put up missing posters and did not get the $1.3 mill the other families got. Talk about unfair.

[EFerrari]

49. And guess who was bussed in to clean up after Katrina?

This is only going to get much, much worse. :(