Over the past decade the death toll of Latino workers, many of them immigrants, has been on the rise. Latino immigrants are particularly likely to work inherently dangerous jobs such as construction and meatpacking. In the construction field their death rate is much higher than non-Latinos. Despite the perceived anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, a recent jury verdict demonstrates that people have much sympathy for hard working immigrants.
On March 23, 2007, Francisco Moreno Garcia was working for a subcontractor at the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) bio-products plant in Decatur, Ill. insulating pipes 15 feet in the air. A waste compression system malfunctioned spraying Garcia with steam and hot caustic chemicals. For the next day and a half doctors tried to save him but he was burned over 90% of his body and died. On September 11, 2009 a mostly white jury awarded Garcia’s parents and siblings back in Mexico 6.7 million dollars. Although Garcia’s family received only a $60,000 death benefit from the workers’ compensation insurance company for Garcia’s employer, Garcia’s estate filed a civil case against ADM. As is frequently the case, companies hire subcontractors to insulate themselves from liability hoping that an injured employee will collect meager workers’ compensation and not seek any further recourse. This was not the case for Garcia’s estate as their attorney convinced the jury that ADM should be held accountable for the faulty equipment that caused Garcia’s death. This verdict also demonstrates that the life of a immigrant construction worker is worth as much as a wealthy white American.