On the night 34-year-old Jose Sanchez died, he had been working a late night shift, removing asbestos from the former AT&T building in Kansas City with two of his cousins and six other workers.
The native Nicaraguan had pushed his relatives to join him in the heartland. Sanchez had spent the last year being shuttled to different states for several asbestos removal jobs through a temp agency. He had reconnected with the two relatives in the Kansas City area for the first time since they fled their home country’s political and economic turmoil in 2022.
“(Jose) just wanted us to be together,” the younger cousin said through a translator. “That’s why he never made any bad comments or complained (during the Kansas City job).”
The family member’s name is not being disclosed out of concerns for his safety due to his immigration status.
“It was the hardest job we’ve done,” the cousin said.
In affidavits from former employees obtained by The Star as well as interviews with Sanchez’s family, city officials and other workers familiar with the construction site at 500 E. Eighth St., serious concerns have been raised about the safety of the work site.
The 34-year-old’s death sparked public outcry from labor activists and Kansas City officials, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, who promised in an Aug. 10 rally to hold builders and contractors to account “in protecting workers’ rights.”
Sanchez’s employer, Kansas City environmental solutions firm New Horizons, which was managing the...
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