Immigrants & Worker?EUR??,,????'?????<

An illegal immigrant injured while working can receive workers' compensation, the D.C. Court of Appeals highest court has ruled. The workers' compensation board awarded Palemon Gonzales benefits and the appeals court ruled that is legal under the District's workers compensation laws because, in part, doing so is "consistent with the principle that the [workers' compensation] Act is to be construed liberally to achieve its humanitarian purpose."

Moreover, federal laws designed to deter illegal immigrants from coming to the U.S. do not usurp the local law, the appeals court said. Those laws were meant to disrupt the "magnetic" pull of U.S. jobs on illegal immigrants.

Allowing employers to get out of paying workers compensation for illegal immigrants would create "powerful incentives for employers to hire such individuals," the appeals court ruled.