by Raphael Metzger

In 2023, Governor Newsom signed legislation making undocumented immigrants age 20 and older eligible for enrollment in Medi-Cal. I was proud that our Governor signed this legislation benefiting the many immigrants who harvest our crops, tend to our gardens and lawns, and build our homes. The legislation was a godsend for young Hispanic immigrants who fabricate and install engineered stone countertops in our kitchens and now suffer from silicosis, an incurable lung disease whose only treatment for advanced disease is lung transplantation.

My law firm is now representing about 200 immigrant workers, many of whom are tethered to oxygen tanks,

praying for lung transplants to save their lives. To date, the California Department of Public Health has confirmed the deadly disease in 310 Engineered Stone workers, 15 of whom have died at an average age of 46. This is the beginning of a terrible new epidemic.

The workers who fabricate and install countertops in our homes immigrated to California to work, to have families, and to support them with their labor. The work that they did is hard and dirty. They lifted and transported stone slabs weighing several hundred pounds and cut and ground the slabs to make countertops, a noisy and dusty operation. They did this work that we Californians had no desire to do, and they took pride in their work. They paid taxes like you and me and they supported their families. In doing this work they inhaled deadly crystalline silica dust without any knowledge it was harmful and would rob them of their health as young men.

These immigrants are vulnerable workers. They lack medical insurance and worked as contractors rather than employees, so they are even ineligible for workers’ compensation. Afraid to complain lest they lose their jobs and be unable to support their families, most had to continue fabricating and installing countertops, despite increased damage to their lungs and to their health.

The Legislation signed by Governor Newsom in 2023 making undocumented immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal was a lifeline to these workers and their families. The workers were finally able to access medical care. Since Governor Newsom signed the legislation, 18 of my clients got double-lung transplants, saving their lives. Last year my youngest client got new lungs at age 28.

These workers fabricated and installed beautiful quartz countertops in our homes. The year before I began representing these immigrant workers, my kitchen was remodeled and immigrants installed beautiful quartz countertops. At the time I had no idea that remodeling my kitchen was destroying the lungs of the immigrants who did this work. Had I known, I would have opted for marble, rather than engineered stone which has been banned in Australia.

Will we Californians who benefitted from the labor of these undocumented immigrants condemn them to death by depriving them of the lifesaving medical care that Medi-Cal provides? Lacking medical care, these vulnerable workers will die young, leaving their wives and young children without financial support. Will they become destitute and homeless? Is that how we Californians treat our immigrant workers? Do we not owe a moral obligation to these catastrophically injured workers and their families to continue their Medi-Cal eligibility and save their lives?

Hopefully, Governor Newsom will reconsider the death warrant he has decreed for these injured workers, and will continue their Medi-Cal eligibility, saving their lives and their families.