Close Menu
    What's Hot

    Amaal Mallik Says Kartik Aaryan Will Be Sidelined In Bollywood Just Like Sushant Singh Rajput: "Achhe Aadmi Ke Saath Galat Hua"

    July 4, 2025

    Why Diljit Dosanjh Is In Border 2 Despite Film Body Ban: Producer Bhushan Kumar Said, "Will Never…"

    July 4, 2025

    Mahhi Vij Reacts To Jay Bhanushali Divorce Rumours: "Why Should I Tell You?"

    July 4, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    N24India
    • Home
    • Features
    • Politics

      Kashmir Attack Sparks Media Storm Amid Political Blame Game

      April 23, 2025

      Religious Bias Allegations Rock Amazon, eBay, and Oracle Customer Support many Companies.

      January 10, 2025

      Feroz Khan Addresses Controversy with AIMIM MLA, Calls for Improved Road Infrastructure in Asifnagar -N24india

      October 7, 2024

      Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Sparks Outrage with Hate Speech Against Prophet Muhammad: Calls for Legal Action Intensify

      October 5, 2024

      Drugs, Baby Oil, Video Tools: What Went On At Rapper Diddy's "Freak Offs"

      September 23, 2024
    • Science
      1. Politics
      2. Lifestyle
      3. Sports
      4. View All

      Kashmir Attack Sparks Media Storm Amid Political Blame Game

      April 23, 2025

      Religious Bias Allegations Rock Amazon, eBay, and Oracle Customer Support many Companies.

      January 10, 2025

      Feroz Khan Addresses Controversy with AIMIM MLA, Calls for Improved Road Infrastructure in Asifnagar -N24india

      October 7, 2024

      Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Sparks Outrage with Hate Speech Against Prophet Muhammad: Calls for Legal Action Intensify

      October 5, 2024

      Amaal Mallik Says Kartik Aaryan Will Be Sidelined In Bollywood Just Like Sushant Singh Rajput: "Achhe Aadmi Ke Saath Galat Hua"

      July 4, 2025

      Why Diljit Dosanjh Is In Border 2 Despite Film Body Ban: Producer Bhushan Kumar Said, "Will Never…"

      July 4, 2025

      Mahhi Vij Reacts To Jay Bhanushali Divorce Rumours: "Why Should I Tell You?"

      July 4, 2025

      Amaal Mallik Says Kartik Aaryan Will Be Sidelined In Bollywood Just Like Sushant Singh Rajput: "Acche Aadmi Ke Saath Galat Hua"

      July 4, 2025

      Watch Weightlifting at Paris 2024 – Follow the Olympic Games

      July 15, 2024

      Charlotte Hornets Makes Career-high 34 Points in Loss to Utah Jazz

      July 15, 2024

      Young Teen Sucker-punches Opponent During Basketball Game

      March 12, 2021

      Bills’ Josh Allen Finishes Second in NFL Most Valuable Player Voting

      January 18, 2021

      World’s first electric hydrofoil ship is coming to Saudi Arabia’s NEOM

      August 21, 2024

      World’s Tiniest Fanged Frogs Lay Their Eggs on Leaves and Guard Them

      July 15, 2024

      Get this 4K HD Dual-Camera Drone with WiFi for $75

      July 15, 2024

      Russian Satellite Breaks up in Space, Forces ISS Astronauts to Shelter

      July 15, 2024
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    N24India
    Home»Politics»Baltimore Tragedy Highlights Role Of Migrants In US Workforce
    Politics

    Baltimore Tragedy Highlights Role Of Migrants In US Workforce

    AdminBy AdminMarch 31, 2024No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    The death of six Latino workers who were fixing potholes when a Baltimore bridge collapsed highlights the crucial role immigrants play in keeping America running, say advocates.

    And it stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric of populists like Donald Trump, who cast them as criminal invaders ruining the country.

    “Migrants come and do the jobs that Americans don’t want to do,” said Luis Vega, an activist and former construction worker.

    The work is too hard, the hours are too long, or the conditions are too difficult.

    “Who here wants to clean hotel rooms? Who wants to work under the hot sun? Who wants to be in the fields?” said Vega.

    A team of eight men was doing road maintenance overnight Monday into Tuesday on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when a huge container ship smashed into a support pillar, sending almost the entire span crashing into the Patapsco River.

    Two were pulled alive from the water, but six died; brothers, husbands, and fathers from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

    “Immigrants — we get the job done,” said senior White House adviser Tom Perez, himself a Latino.

    “The six people who perished, the two others who survived… this is America, the immigrants (were) repairing potholes.”

    The tragedy comes at a time many Latinos feel they are under assault from sections of the political class, as the United States ramps up for a bitter presidential election in November between Trump and incumbent Joe Biden.

    Trump’s stridently anti-immigrant campaign includes suggestions that, if elected, he will embark on a mass expulsion of people he blames for crime and drug addiction he says are wracking America.

    “The former president doesn’t see how much damage he does with his poison,” said Vega.

    “Terrorists don’t sneak over the US-Mexico border; they fly in on a visa.”

    The people who pay traffickers to smuggle them across the hostile deserts of the US Southwest are the people who end up doing the dirty and difficult jobs that Americans depend on.

    “In 2020, when we had the Covid pandemic… no one wanted to work closely with another person,” said Vega.

    “So who did the work? The cleaning in the hospitals? Harvesting the food? It was the immigrants who risked their lives.”

    High Risk

    Those risks, even if they are not always fatal, as they were for the Baltimore bridge workers, are all too real.

    In Arizona the legal minimum wage is $14.35 an hour, but, says Javier Galindo, a contractor in Tucson, immigrant workers will earn only $80 to $100 per day, sometimes for 10 or 12 hours of work.

    “You know what time you come in, but not what time you will leave,” he says.

    Poverty and desperation force migrants to accept these wages, and to work in conditions that can be fatal, such as high temperatures.

    According to official numbers, Latino immigrants comprised 8.2 percent of the United States workforce in 2020-2021 but accounted for 14 percent of workplace deaths.

    The total number of deaths has also risen, up 42 percent over the decade to 2021, with 727 Latinos dying on the job that year.

    Root-and-branch reform of migration into the United States, including regularizing pathways to work, would help to reduce this toll, say activists.

    But it would also alleviate what many say is a desperate shortage of labor.

    “There is a lack of manpower,” says Galindo, whose business was badly hit by border closures during the Covid pandemic.

    The 48-year-old began his working life at just 14 years old, clambering over rooftops.

    “You’ll never see a white person doing that job,” he said.

    In the two decades since he started his company, only one white American ever knocked on his door asking for a job as a driver.

    “He didn’t last long,” laughs Galindo. “He walked off the job.”

    In his region, he says, the construction sector depends almost entirely on immigrants, with the undocumented playing a key role.

    It is a feeling shared widely.

    “If we only hired people with the proper papers, things would go very badly for us,” one Arizona contractor told AFP.

    “We wouldn’t be able to build what is being built in this city if it weren’t for undocumented workers.”

    (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)



    Original Source

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Admin
    • Website

    Related Posts

    Kashmir Attack Sparks Media Storm Amid Political Blame Game

    April 23, 2025

    Religious Bias Allegations Rock Amazon, eBay, and Oracle Customer Support many Companies.

    January 10, 2025

    Feroz Khan Addresses Controversy with AIMIM MLA, Calls for Improved Road Infrastructure in Asifnagar -N24india

    October 7, 2024

    Comments are closed.

    Advertisement
    Demo
    Latest Posts

    Amaal Mallik Says Kartik Aaryan Will Be Sidelined In Bollywood Just Like Sushant Singh Rajput: "Achhe Aadmi Ke Saath Galat Hua"

    July 4, 2025

    Why Diljit Dosanjh Is In Border 2 Despite Film Body Ban: Producer Bhushan Kumar Said, "Will Never…"

    July 4, 2025

    Mahhi Vij Reacts To Jay Bhanushali Divorce Rumours: "Why Should I Tell You?"

    July 4, 2025

    Amaal Mallik Says Kartik Aaryan Will Be Sidelined In Bollywood Just Like Sushant Singh Rajput: "Acche Aadmi Ke Saath Galat Hua"

    July 4, 2025
    Trending Posts
    Business & Economy

    Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc Speaks to ‘Massive Impact’ of the Red Sea Situation

    January 20, 2021
    Sports

    Review: Can Wisconsin Clinch the Big Ten West this Weekend

    January 15, 2021
    Biotech

    These Knee Braces Help With Arthritis Pain, Swelling, and Post-Surgery Recovery

    January 15, 2021

    Subscribe to News

    Get the latest sports news from NewsSite about world, sports and politics.

    Your source for the serious news. This demo is crafted specifically to exhibit the use of the theme as a news site. Visit our main page for more demos.

    We're social. Connect with us:

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest YouTube

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Hyderabad
    • Telengana
    • Lifestyle
      • Science
    • Politics
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • World
    • Middle East
    • Sports
    • Home
    • Blog
    • Homepage
    • Typography Elements
    • Get In Touch
    • Our Authors
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.