• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Thursday, August 11, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

COVID Stimulus Checks: Does Victory Include Abandoning the Most Vulnerable?

Thespina Yamanis by Thespina Yamanis
10/26/21
in Featured, Opinion
COVID Stimulus Checks: Does Victory Include Abandoning the Most Vulnerable?

People in need line up at a food distribution center in New York, on April 29, 2020. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

As President Joe Biden and his supporters celebrate signing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, it is disappointing that many of the nation’s 10.5 million undocumented immigrants are, once again, excluded from stimulus payments.

As a scholar studying the health of the undocumented, I know how devastating this will be for immigrant families. I have heard many personal stories about the horrific effects of the pandemic on their financial, emotional, and physical well-being.

Between June 2020 and March 2021, my colleagues and I interviewed undocumented Latinx immigrants who were clients of a federally qualified health center in Washington, DC and Maryland. Latinx immigrants represent the largest share of undocumented immigrants. Here is just one of their stories.

Undocumented in the Pandemic

Jorge is an undocumented father of two middle-school-aged boys. He had been in the US for 24 years when he lost his job in the construction industry early on in the pandemic.

Fighting back his tears, Jorge said: “I never thought I would be without work for this long. I wasn’t ready to feed myself for three months and pay all the bills. I think that if I did not have my family, this would have been the end of me, because this is cruel.”

Jorge’s wife, Joanna, kept going to work despite being terrified of COVID-19 and watching many of her coworkers become infected. “My wife … protected herself [at work] with masks, gloves, and everything. She didn’t want to stop going to work because she was afraid of being fired. Then, one day, it happened, she fell … sick.”

Despite their precarious financial situation and no access to paid sick leave, Jorge and Joanna completely isolated their family for 20 days. They were terrified to leave the house because one of their neighbors died of COVID-19.

Biggest Victims

Between February and April 2020, the job loss rate for undocumented men was 31.9 percent, compared to 16.8 percent for native US citizens and 23.5 percent for legal immigrants, a study using data from the Current Population Survey found.

The rate was 29.8 percent for undocumented women, compared to 22.4 percent for native US citizens and 31.3 percent for legal immigrants.

Losing work has put undocumented workers in a very precarious position. Many do not have savings or bank accounts and live paycheck to paycheck. They do not qualify for safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Border Patrol agent apprehends illegal immigrants shortly after they crossed the border from Mexico into the United States in the Rio Grande Valley Sector near McAllen, Texas.
Border Patrol agent apprehends undocumented immigrants shortly after they crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. Photo: Loren Elliott, AFP

Being without work for so many months has meant not paying rent, rising food insecurity, and worse health outcomes, including lack of access to healthcare (due, in part, to cost and deportation worries) and higher levels of depression,stress, and anxiety.

Furthermore, the undocumented are at increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 because they must take whatever work is offered to feed their families. They have no legal protections when they get sick or experience harassment at work.

Essential Workers

Studies have documented the increased risks of dying from COVID-19 among essential workers, with Latinx essential workers being at even greater risk for death than white essential workers.

Nevertheless, many undocumented workers have continued to work and to bring us essential services. They pick our fruit and vegetables, prepare and serve our take-out meals, clean our homes and offices, build our roads, and stock our groceries.

In non-pandemic times, about 5 million undocumented immigrants are classified as essential workers. Seventy-five percent of undocumented individuals work, contributing more than their share to our economy. They have paid taxes that have funded coronavirus relief for everyone but themselves. Just think about it: 4.4 million undocumented immigrants paid $23.6 billion in taxes in 2015 using their individual tax identification numbers (ITINs).

We Rely on Them

There is no question that the American Rescue Plan goes one step further than the previous CARES Act funding in allowing stimulus checks to go to undocumented parents of US citizen children, as long as those parents filed taxes with ITINs. However, the National Immigration Law Center estimates that there are still 9.3 million undocumented immigrants who will not be covered by the new stimulus.

The most urgent and immediate need is to help the undocumented get vaccinated, open up the economy and get them safely back to work. In some states, public health efforts have targeted undocumented farmworkers for vaccination to keep them employed. But other undocumented immigrants are experiencing challenges finding work again.

Some undocumented immigrants we interviewed wondered if they could stay in this country, given the extreme financial distress they have experienced. If they leave, it is doubtful that we will immediately find 5 million people to replace them in the kinds of roles they fill. Our essential worker economy relies on them.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
ShareTweet
Thespina Yamanis

Thespina Yamanis

Associate professor at American University’s School of International Service. Prof. Yamanis was an Adelante scholar with the National Centers for AIDS Research, National Institutes of Health (2015-2017), and an Interdisciplinary Research Leader with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2017-2020). Her research focuses on the role of immigration status in health outcomes for Latinx immigrants

Related Posts

Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy
Featured

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

by Stephen J. Lyons
August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump
Opinion

Owning the Words and the Libs

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims
Opinion

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 3, 2022
A man holding a gun
Featured

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

by Stephen J. Lyons
May 2, 2022
European Medicines Agency
World

EU Watchdog Approves Second Covid Booster for Over 80s

by Staff Writer
April 6, 2022
Dollar bills held against a world map
Opinion

The Global Tax Won’t Fix Historically High Inequality, It Will Make It Worse

by Benjamin Waddell
February 21, 2022
Next Post
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Navalny Says Health Deteriorating, Suffering Sleep Deprivation 'Torture'

Men and women from various professions walk the streets of Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, nightly.

Spa Worker, Waiter, Mechanic: New Yorkers Patrol After Anti-Asian Attacks

Recommended

Marina Ovsyannikova

Russian TV Journalist Faces Jail Time for Anti-Putin Protest

August 10, 2022
Mar-A-Lago raid

FBI Raid on Trump’s Home Ignites Political Firestorm

August 9, 2022
Ukraine nuclear plant

Ukraine Calls for De-Militarization of Occupied Nuclear Plant

August 8, 2022
Toru Kubota

Myanmar Junta Charges Japanese Journalist With Encouraging Dissent

August 4, 2022
Nancy Pelosi

Taiwan Defiant as China Readies Military Drills Over Pelosi Visit

August 3, 2022
Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022

Opinion

Protesters stand with placards in front of the statue of India's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, central London, after a demonstration outside the US Embassy

Considering the Patience of Gandhi for These Troubled Times

August 5, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post