A construction worker who became a witness in a federal workplace safety investigation after he was injured during the collapse of a new Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans was deported by the immigration authorities on Friday, his lawyers said. The worker, Delmer Joel Ramirez Palma, had to scramble to stay alive while metal and debris rained down and parts of the 18-story structure pancaked around him and killed three of his colleagues on Oct. 12. Mr. Ramirez Palma had raised concerns about problems with the construction with supervisors multiple times, according to his lawyers. After the building crumbled around him, he gave an on-air account to a Spanish-language news outlet and became a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the developers of the project and their construction firms, accusing them of using substandard materials and inadequate underpinnings to shore up the concrete floors . On Oct. 14, two days after the collapse, Mr. Ramirez Palma, an immigrant from Honduras who was not authorized to remain in the country, was arrested while on a fishing trip and then detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Source: New York Times November 29, 2019 21:44 UTC