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 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 were 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.
