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The COVID-19 crisis has heightened the consequences of recent policies that have deterred immigrants from receiving federal safety net assistance and other supports.
The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be one of the worst economic recessions in American history, and the federal government has rightly taken preliminary steps to mitigate the harm for working-class Americans. As a result of the first three stimulus bills, some economic relief is on the horizon for the average American. Unfortunately, there has been relatively little done to provide relief to a critical yet often overlooked segment of the American labor force: undocumented immigrants
Immigrants have always been a vital part of the social and economic fabric of this country. They have always taken on an oversized share of the frontline work of caring for our sick, our young, and our elderly. So it may not be surprising that immigrant communities are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers at the UC Merced Community and Labor Center find non-citizen women have experienced the deepest job losses. The study is an early signal of how the coronavirus recession is widening California’s economic inequities.
When I began writing this blog post, I was asked “what do you want readers to take away from it?” Immediately I knew my answer: Undocumented people have the right to be in positions of power, to be compensated fairly for their labor, and to be valued for the expertise they bring to the table. Undocumented people deserve much more than we’ve given them.
Americans are eligible for up to $1,200 in coronavirus stimulus money — unless they're married and filing taxes jointly with an immigrant who doesn’t have a Social Security number. Democratic leaders are demanding to change that.