A Michigan state representative has filed a bill to give illegal aliens in the state access to workers compensation benefits if they are injured on the job.
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, has introduced legislation (H.B. 5952) that would amend Michigan law that now bars workers’ compensation benefits to employees who cannot work because of a “commission of a crime” so that this exemption does not include “an alien’s working without employment authorization or an alien’s use of false documents to obtain employment or to seek work.”
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are an estimated 110,000 illegal aliens in Michigan. A group of them held a rally at the State Capitol in Lansing last week.
At the rally, Tlaibi said that Michigan is one of only a few states that does not compensate undocumented workers for workplace injuries. Her proposal is “a better system than allowing people to be part of a black market of undocumented workers,” she said.
The legislation came under fire from other legislators.
“The only thing we should be giving illegal immigrants is a bus ride home,” state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, told WILX-TV.
Topics Workers' Compensation Talent Michigan
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