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A dark pickup truck was submerged in roughly 25 feet of water in the middle period of the bridge shortly before 10 a.m., according to divers. Two sufferers of this tragedy were found trapped inside the car by fishermen. The subjects were identified as Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, 35 years old, of Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26 years old, of Dundalk.
AMY GOODMAN: Since the gate collapsed, only two employees ‘ systems have been recovered. On Wednesday, the home of Maynor Suazo Sandoval, one of the people still missing, said they were in great horror, and asked authorities to continue their research. This is his nephew, Martin Suazo.
MARTIN SUAZO :]translated ] We were informed that the government had decided to stop the search, to begin removing debris from the bridge. This indicates that the research for body is taking a backseat. We understand that the U.S. government is losing millions of dollars because the boats are moving, but we think that they should not disregard the suffering of the victims ‘ families and those whose bodies have not yet been discovered. We are also holding out for our brother’s system so that we can begin the relocation process, which is what we are most interested in.
AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Baltimore, Maryland. Gustavo Torres, the executive producer of CASA, a volunteer for immigrant rights, joined us in welcoming those whose lives have been impacted by the murder fueled by the United States. In the Francis Scott Key Bridge decline, two of their people, Miguel Luna, a Peruvian father of three, and Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, a Honduran father of two, whose nephew you just heard, were killed.
Gustavo, pleasant to Democracy Today! Our deepest sympathies on your loss, the CASA people and the whole group.
GUSTAVO TORRES: Thank you very much. I really understand that.
AMY GOODMAN: You you speak about the people of CASA who you knew, what they did, what these people were doing on the gate, filling holes. Show us about these employees before they passed away.
GUSTAVO TORRES: Also, these two construction workers were long-time users of our CASA family, which added an even more somber level of pain to this extremely tragic circumstance.
Miguel Luna was from El Salvador. He left at 6: 30 p. m. Monday night for labor and, since, has never come house. He was a husband, a father of three, and has called Maryland his house for across 19 years. You know, Miguel loved football and helped the area. He was quite engaged in CASA’s actions.
And Maynor Suazo Sandoval, a second CASA part impacted by the drama, traveled from Honduras over 17 times before. And he, alongside his brother Carlos, were engaged people of CASA, when well. Carlos once mentioned to me that he always had such a good spirit and brought so much fun to his home. He was a father of two children. And in fact, his household was getting ready for his birthday party on April 27.
Therefore, they were remarkable people engaged in CASA’s activities, engaged in so many events that we have in Baltimore- location location.
AMY GOODMAN: You’ve said that Maynor was about to celebrate his 35th birthday on April 27th?
GUSTAVO TORRES: That is correct, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: The family was going to gather?
GUSTAVO TORRES: Yeah, that was the idea, to celebrate something really great with him.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you discuss the dangers that construction workers face and the large immigrant population in the greater Baltimore area?
GUSTAVO TORRES: The construction workers are absolutely essential. They work night shifts to repair bridges and roads that millions of people use daily to travel to cities and towns. Of the millions of people who call Baltimore home and so many other cities and counties throughout our country, Maynor and Miguel are [inaudible ] among the millions. And you know what? However, this is not a tragic isolated incident. Almost a year ago to the day of the bridge collapse, also right there on 695 in Baltimore highway, six workers were killed, and three of them were Latinos. Again, that is the kind of situation that we face all the time with these families, because, you know, after logging, construction is the most dangerous job in the United States. Immigrants are significantly less likely to have health insurance and have a higher rate of accidents and fatalities at work than nonimmigrants. So, we have around — in the Washington, D. C., area and in Baltimore, we have around 130, 000 immigrants that work in construction. They are the people who, every single time, make a difference in the families and in our communities.
AMY GOODMAN: The governor, Wes Moore, announced that they have, I think, requested and gotten approval from President Biden for$ 60 million to start the rebuilding of the bridge. Can you talk about what’s happening for these families?
GUSTAVO TORRES: Well, right now we are working with these families. Of course, they request privacy in the middle of this crisis, and we are protecting and in solidarity with the families. But they face big challenges right now, financially and also emotionally. So that is the reason why we are working with other nonprofit organizations to ensure that we can provide as much as we can in concert with the city and the state.
We look to Maynor and Miguel’s quiet leadership to uphold our society so that Americans can live comfortably in a time when there is so much hatred against the immigrant community. We think it is crucial that we continue to protect these families and that we continue to assist these families as much as we can. And that is the reason we are telling President Biden that TPS is necessary for those individuals and these communities. Because immigrants like Miguel and Maynor are constructing bridges to connect communities rather than dividing them, TPS, as you know, is a temporarily protected status to provide legal opportunities to these families and to these communities that work really, really hard. And I would like to remind you that we always honor them and their sacrifice today.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m wondering if you can comment on the larger immigration debate in this country. In presidential campaign fundraising events, President Trump once more refers to immigrants as being human, poisoning the blood of this nation. The Democrats and Republicans then compete with one another to shut down the southern border, with Trump supporting the Republican proposal, and Trump not wanting it to proceed, despite the fact that the Democrats had supported it. What do you think about the lessons we can learn from the tragic passing of these hard-working men on the bridge?
GUSTAVO TORRES: Totally unacceptable, what — of course, Trump, we expect that and worse from him, but now we also receive the same kind of treatment from the Democratic Party. That is totally unacceptable, when the Congressional Budget Office estimates the U. S. economy will grow up up to$ 7 trillion over the next 10 years, thanks in part to the immigration. Actually, we do n’t have to wait for the future to see how immigrants are strengthening the U. S. economy. In 2021, immigrants paid$ 525 billion in taxes, money that helps to support the nation’s schools, Medicaid and Social Security.
Comprehensive immigration reform is what we currently need. We do n’t need more attacks against the immigrant community. We do n’t need more racist and anti-immigrant attacks like we’re seeing right now. To solve the crises that we face in this country and ensure that the country keeps getting benefit from these extraordinary immigrants like Miguel and Maynor, we need both parties to work together to pass a comprehensive immigration reform.
AMY GOODMAN: Gustavo Torres, I want to thank you so much for being with us, executive director of CASA. Two of CASA‘s members were killed in the Key Bridge collapse.
Millions of slaveholders who also contributed to the construction of this nation, along with immigrants, are a memory worth keeping as we remember those immigrant laborers on the Key Bridge. The poem that would become the country’s anthem was written in Francis Scott Key’s honor, because he had been watching the British Navy bombard Fort McHenry in 1814, not far from where the bridge was constructed in the 1970s. His poem has four stanzas, the first made famous as” The Star- Spangled Banner”. Key, who owned slaves, denounced those who fled enslavement in 1814 to fight the British, who had promised the enslaved people freedom in exchange. Key’s poem, which was left out of the national anthem but still remarkably rhymes with” Land of the free and home of the brave,” reads,” No refuge could save the hireling and slave/ From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.” Just an interesting fact as the rebuilt Key Bridge takes place.
Protesters chant both inside and outside Radio City Music Hall as President Biden holds the largest one-night fundraiser in presidential campaign history with Presidents Obama and Clinton, raising more than$ 25 million. We’ll hear some of their voices. Then, in Rafah, to UNICEF spokesman James Elder. Stay with us.
