Junta for Progressive Action
By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER and DANIELA ALTIMARI, Courant Staff Writers -
May 24, 2006
MIDDLETOWN -- When she first heard the crash, Valerie Melanson figured it was debris.
Then she saw several of the men who had been working on the roof next door rush to the back of the house. A young man from Ecuador who was part of the construction crew was lying in the driveway, on his back.
The house on Butternut Street in Middletown, where a worker fell from the roof.
(Photo by RICK HARTFORD)
"I saw them trying to revive the guy," she said. "And they weren't having a good time at it."
Melanson asked if the men had called for help; one of them waved her away.
But time slipped by and she still hadn't heard sirens. Finally, Melanson dialed 911.
Police say the men, apparently fearful of detection by immigration officials, tried to administer their own form of first aid to an injured co-worker, who had fallen 30 feet off the steeply pitched roof late Monday morning.
Ultimately, a half-hour elapsed before the injured man got the medical help he desperately needed. He was flown by helicopter to Hartford Hospital with a broken leg, dislocated shoulder and other injuries.
The remaining seven workers were taken into custody by federal authorities. Five have been released and ordered to appear in immigration court; the other two are being detained by authorities.
Advocates for undocumented workers say the episode, which unfolded just before noon on Butternut Street, illustrates the vulnerability of those who have come to the United States illegally to find work.
"This case is not an aberration," said Kica Matos, a lawyer who directs Junta for Progressive Action, a New Haven-based immigrant advocacy group. "We deal with cases all the time with immigrants who were injured in the workplace."
In the midst of a national debate on immigration, President Bush recently called for a guest worker program for most of the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country.
Maria-Cinta Lowe, executive director of the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury, said the workers in the incident were on the job, had not committed a crime and should not have been detained, especially considering the chance of immigration law reform.
"People are really afraid," she said.
But in some industries, notably construction, agriculture, landscaping and domestic work, undocumented immigrants already play a crucial role. And typically, those workers fear being discovered, which advocates say explains why the injured man's colleagues were reluctant to call for help.
"There is always a fear of government authorities, in particular any type of law enforcement agencies," Matos said.
Bert Durand, communications director for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, called the hiring of undocumented immigrants a "serious problem in the industry."
"Safety is one more issue where employers that are just looking to get work done as cheaply and as quickly as possible are able to exploit workers, and because they're immigrant workers, they often don't have a voice."
He said penalties for employing illegal workers and violating safety standards are often too weak to deter employers. "Many employers just consider it the cost of doing business," Durand said.
And that leaves undocumented workers at risk. From 1996 to 2001, the rate of fatal workplace injuries to foreign-born workers increased by 43 percent, while the number of on-the-job deaths to U.S. workers declined by 5 percent, according to a study conducted by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research group.
The Ecuadorean crew working in Middletown on Monday appeared to have no harnesses or safety equipment, Melanson said. "They looked like they were just running from the seat of their pants," she said.
The workers were hired by a subcontractor doing work for DiGiorgi Roofing and Siding of Beacon Falls. Company President David DiGiorgi, whose grandfather founded the family-owned firm in 1933, would not reveal the name of the subcontractor.
DiGiorgi said the first thing he did on Tuesday was run random spot checks to determine whether the company's subcontractors had hired undocumented workers. "We took steps to make sure that the rest of our crews do have valid and proper documentation," he said. "We have many, many crews that work for us that follow the books."
To be hired legally under federal law, workers must fill out an employment eligibility form and provide proper identification. But forged documents are common and employers have only minimal verification requirements.
Authorities did not release the name of the injured employee. DiGiorgi said the man remains hospitalized but is recovering.
At this point, the man is not facing immigration charges, said Mike Gilhooly, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
"He's in the hospital," Gilhooly said. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Asked if the subcontracting company could face penalties or charges, Gilhooly said that the investigation remains open and that he could not comment further.
Middletown police and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration also are investigating.
On Tuesday, another group of roofers were back at work on the Butternut Street home. Because it was windy, the workers were securing the roof with a tarp.
Courant Staff Writers Mark Spencer and Josh Kovner contributed to this story.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant