They Got Hurt At Work Then They Got Deported

MICHAEL GRABELL
HOWARD BERKES
August 16, 20175:00 AM ET


At age 31, Nixon Arias cut a profile similar to many unauthorized immigrants in the United States. A native of Honduras, he had been in the country for more than a decade and had worked off and on for a landscaping company for nine years. The money he earned went to building a future for his family in Pensacola, Fla. His Facebook page was filled with photos of fishing and other moments with his three boys, ages 3, 7 and 8.

But in November 2013, that life began to unravel.

The previous year, Arias had been mowing the median of Highway 59 just over the Alabama line when his riding lawnmower hit a hole, throwing him into the air. He slammed back in his seat, landing hard on his lower back.

Arias received pain medication, physical therapy and steroid injections through his employer's workers' compensation insurance. But the pain in his back made even walking or sitting a struggle. So his doctor recommended an expensive surgery to implant a device that sends electrical pulses to the spinal cord to relieve chronic pain. Six days after that appointment, the insurance company suddenly discovered that Arias had been using a deceased man's Social Security number and rejected not only the surgery but all of his past and future care.

More:
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/16/543650270/they-got-hurt-at-work-then-they-got-deported?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=us

Had Nixon Arias only told the authorities he is from Cuba, he would have been given free treatment in the US under provisions made for any and ALL Cubans who arrive in the US on dry land, before being intercepted at sea. This condition for special privileges to Cuban citizens, and not any other nationality, was created through the US Cuban Adjustment Act which has been in place for many years. Among the special perks extended to ONLY Cubans are the opportunity to arrive here without any identification of any kind, meaning they can even be escaped criminals from Cuba, they are automatically legally safe from agents of the government who always round up everyone else for deportation. They gain legal status after one year, one day. They instantly get access, meaning immediately, to US work visas, food stamps, taxpayers-financed Section 8 housing, MEDICAL TREATMENT, financial aid for education for them and their children, even low cost loans. Etc., etc., etc......

Very sad situation, especially when people arrive here from wildly dangerous conditions in their homelands, places where they have been starving, living with death threats, and arrive on dry land, only to have government agents imprison them, and deport them, as the Cubans are allowed to jump right into their new homes, receiving all the benefits they received in Cuba. Some Cubans return to Cuba, by the way, either for short visits, or vacations, or to stay permanently. This has always been played down, known usually only to the Cuban community in South Florida, who don't particularly want it to be well known, as it endangers the benefits they have been enjoying for decades.