Crashes leave 38 migrants dead since January 2015
Driving through light rain, the bus sideswiped a barrier and struck a concrete bridge support, peeling back the roof. Chavez and five others were killed while seven more workers were severely injured.
The crash, which occurred in November 2015, was the result of chronic problems within an American agriculture industry dependent upon a reliable supply of low-wage, foreign-born workers according to Allen G. Breed of the Associated Press.
"It has been just over a half-century since the nation's worst fatal vehicle accident killed nearly three dozen migrants, a horror that farmworker advocates had hoped would bring lasting reforms. Yet, due to enforcement gaps and the sometimes callous attitudes of those who contract for the workers, laborers continue to ride in overloaded, poorly maintained, uninsured vehicles — often driven by a fellow crew member without a proper license, or with no license at all." Breed explained.
The Associated Press found more than a dozen accidents that left at least 38 dead and nearly 200 injured just since January 2015. The casualties included a 5-year-old Mexican boy who died when the van transporting him with his mother and 14 other blueberry pickers flipped in Virginia, and a 4-year old killed when a bus carrying mostly Haitian corn harvesters crashed in Florida.
A photo from the Florida Highway Patrol of a crash from July 2, 2016 where four migrant workers were killed, including a 4-year old boy.
"I think there's more unregistered, improperly insured, unsafe transportation out there for farmworkers than ... 20 years ago," says attorney Greg Schell, deputy director of Southern Migrant Legal Services.
In the two years prior to the crash, Vasquez Citrus had been cited 22 times for alleged violations, from underage drivers to vehicles with worn tires, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The Labor Department had also cited Juan Vasquez for failure to provide safe vehicles, going back to 2007.
source: wisfarmer.com
