“'Just a number' — Migrant worker faces deportation after losing finger at Essex County greenhouse”

“You’re just a number.”

For Pedro, a Mexican migrant worker on the verge of deportation, those words cut deeper than a recent injury he suffered at an Essex County greenhouse — an incident he claims not only cost him a finger but a job he thought was secure.

“All of my co-workers have already renewed their work contracts,” Pedro told the Star through an interpreter. “I was told the company would renew the contract after the accident but when I asked, I was told they didn’t have a contract for me…

“The owner said I didn’t get a renewal because I got injured.”

Pedro arrived in Canada from Guanajuato, Mexico, in 2018 under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program…

But with his current contract set to expire on January 18, and no signs of renewal, he said his future in Canada is now uncertain…

While lifting a container of tomato plant scraps to empty its contents into a garbage truck, he said the container tipped backward instead of forward. It caught his finger and almost severed it entirely.

“The containers were in poor condition — rotten, broken, and unsafe — despite repeatedly asking my employer to replace them, no action was taken,” Pedro said…