Mexican returns to R.I. in quest for justice

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, September 27, 2007
http://www.projo.com/news/content/INJUR ... 4ee02.html
By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer


The facial injury that Edgar Velásquez suffered in a chain saw accident, left, today have largely healed, above, although he says he continues to suffer headaches and recurring infections along the incision line.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
PROVIDENCE — Edgar Velásquez, who sliced his face open with a chain saw last year while working for a Warwick tree service company, has waited a year in his remote Mexican village for the chance to return to this country and have his day in court.

Today, back in Rhode Island, he is going to court.

Velásquez, 22, was working for William J. Gorman Jr., owner of Billy G’s Tree Service, when the accident occurred on March 31, 2006. Though Velásquez was in the country illegally, state law allows an employee to pursue a workers’ compensation claim regardless of his or her immigration status, according to Chief Judge George E. Healey Jr. of the Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Court.

On the day of a scheduled hearing, however, immigration agents arrested Velásquez outside the J. Joseph Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence. According to Velásquez, Gorman was standing nearby and called out, ‘Now Edgar, I’m sending you back to Mexico — I have no use for you now,’ and said, ‘Edgar, adios,’ as agents placed Velásquez in handcuffs.

One month later, Velásquez was returned to Mexico under what is known as “voluntary departure.â€