Officials rescue 37 immigrants from Calif. house
National News
Immigration authorities have rescued more than three dozen immigrants who were locked inside a sweltering boarded-up bedroom in a Southern California house.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday some of the 37 immigrants from six Latin American countries had been held for weeks in the 10-by-10-foot room in Riverside and had gone several days without food.
The immigrants, mostly men, had been stripped of their shoes and were found lying on the floor. Three children under 3 years old were also found inside the room, said Debra Parker, assistant special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Riverside.
Authorities say they began searching for the house after a caller reported smugglers had threatened to kill his relative when the family could not pay for his release. After scouring the area for two days, including with an infrared-equipped helicopter, officials searched the home Tuesday afternoon.
Smugglers often hold illegal immigrants in so-called drop houses for days or weeks while collecting payment for bringing them into the country.
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Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?
If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.
Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.
If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases.
If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.
Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.