On 27th March 2020, President Trump signed the CARES Act, a $2 trillion relief package, aimed at lessening the economic hardship faced by American workers during the Coronavirus outbreak.[i] The package includes, but is not limited to, a $1200 stimulus check sent to eligible Americans as determined by their income from their 2018 tax return. Many have pointed out a group completely ignored by the act: undocumented immigrants. The nature of this group’s immigration status makes it difficult to get an accurate figure of the number of undocumented persons in the United States, but current estimates put the population at around 11.3 million.[ii]
Undocumented immigrants are especially vulnerable in the face of the current public health emergency due to their lack of access to healthcare, employment instability and the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies. When taking into account the potential gendered effects of Coronavirus, the reality is even more disturbing as the roles women occupy in society put them at greater risk of contracting the virus. Neglecting to address the needs of undocumented people is both morally wrong, and also counter to the supposed objectives of the administration’s policies, stopping the spread of the virus.
Unlike other developed nations, the United States does not have universal public healthcare. The majority of Americans obtain healthcare through their work or buy it on the healthcare exchange (an advent of the Affordable Care Act). A smaller portion of Americans with lower incomes qualify for state-sponsored healthcare called Medicaid. Undocumented immigrants do not have the same access. While some are able to qualify through their employment, Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 45% of undocumented peoples in the U.S. do not have access to health insurance.[iii]
On top of this, the Public Charge Rule,[iv] amended in February of 2020, denies green cards to undocumented people attempting to apply for legal status if once they are legal they will have to rely on state-programs, including Medicaid [v]. In reality this means that the current administration is making it harder to achieve legal status for someone who is lower income. It also means that during the current crisis, undocumented peoples are scared to access the limited services available to them for fear of jeopardizing current green card applications. It is crucial that everyone residing in the U.S., no matter their immigration status, has access to healthcare, especially during a pandemic. Due to the fact that undocumented people are less likely to have this access, if they fall ill they will be unable (or scared) to go to hospitals and speak to healthcare professionals thus increasing the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes, even death.
Not only does the undocumented population have limited access to healthcare in the U.S., they work in informal sectors and industries that are being hardest hit by the virus therefore the economic impacts of the virus are extremely high for this community. The Migration Policy Institute lists agriculture, hospitality, construction and manufacturing as some of the main industries employing undocumented persons[vi] and an Eater article estimates that 20% of the U.S.’ cooks are undocumented.[vii] These are all industries that are laying off workers at alarming rates and do not offer the possibility of working at home. So even if an undocumented worker is not laid off, they must physically go to work while risking their own health and that of their family. To make matters worse, undocumented people, unlike their colleagues, are unable to apply for unemployment benefits which could potentially ease the financial burden of the coming months.
Further, undocumented workers will not have access to the above-mentioned $1200 stimulus checks coming from the CARES act. Many undocumented workers (and legal immigrants) pay taxes using a number called ITIN or “Individual Tax Payer Number.” Under the CARES Act, if anyone in a household pays taxes with an ITIN, no one in the home is eligible to receive the Government's Coronavirus aid, unless one spouse served in the military in 2019.[viii] According to the Center for American Progress, this could affect more than 16.7 million people who have an undocumented person living in their household, among whom almost 50% are American citizens.[ix] Thus, although undocumented workers pay into the system, they are systematically being denied support during the crisis. The effects of this lack of support are not restricted to individuals, but extends to affect families and subsequently entire communities.
Of course, this all needs to be put into context, the current political context. The Trump administration has been notoriously aggressive in both its anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy. It seems like only yesterday that the global community watched, appalled, as the United States quite literally put immigrant children in cages at the border.[x] We can’t discount the psychological toll this has left on the undocumented population in the United States and the lack of trust they rightly have in the state and its apparatus. Throughout the crisis the administration has stated that undocumented people are able to access some services and receive testing without jeopardizing their green card applications or risking deportation, however people remain justifiably skeptical and unwilling to come forward.[xi]
We also need to consider the undocumented population from a prism of intersectionality. Much has been written about the increased risk of domestic violence against women during periods of quarantine, however, what if someone experiencing domestic violence is also undocumented? The New York Times reported in 2018 that in Houston, Texas, although the undocumented population grew after the Trump administration came into power, reports of domestic violence from the undocumented population decreased.[xii] This suggests, that undocumented women could be less willing to report instances of domestic violence for fear of the consequences of revealing their undocumented status under the current administration. In a time in which the risk of domestic violence increases due to social isolation measures, what does this mean for undocumented persons that do not feel that they have access to any support?
Women are also at greater risk of contracting the virus because of the gendered spaces and roles that they occupy. Women are more likely to be the ones caring for the sick at home and in the community, putting them at higher risk of contracting Coronavirus.[xiii] Looking at the juncture of “undocumented” and “women”, however, reveals an alarming reality that undocumented women are caretakers but lack access to healthcare. They are caretakers but at the same time do not have the same financial resources as their documented counterparts due to denial of access to stimulus checks and unemployment benefits and they often work in disproportionately affected sectors. Thus, the impact on the lives of undocumented women is immense.
The realities of this crisis are frightening for us all, but we must remain cognizant of how our governments’ responses to the crisis privilege the needs of certain groups and are ultimately failing to meet the needs of others. This reinforces the idea that some lives are more valuable than others. Has this crisis not proven that we are all human? The virus does not care about the color of our skins, the languages we speak, whom we choose to love or how we identify. It does not discriminate based on where we were born; so why should our policies?
Furthermore, someone’s undocumented status does not stop them from getting and spreading the virus and if our policies are not targeted to help those most at risk, they will be forced to work in unsafe conditions and continue to put both themselves and our communities at risk. The consequence of this is a longer and potentially more deadly outbreak that disproportionately affects the undocumented population. The Trump administration continues to be guided by ideology and not practicality. If we want to return to some semblance of normalcy in the near future and stop the unnecessary loss of life, the administration is going to need to drop its discriminatory policies and develop an inclusive, gendered and all-encompassing approach.
Emma Wolfe
Emma is an MSc candidate in Conflict Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a 2020 Rotary Global Scholar. Her research focus is intersectional social movements in Latin America, focusing on the indigenous women’s movement in Bolivia. She has extensive experience in the nonprofit world, beginning her professional career as a Refugee Occupation Counselor at a resettlement agency in Chicago before moving to Buenos Aires and working in nonprofit technology.
Follow Emma on twitter: @emmarosewolfe
References
[i] Narea, Nicole. “The missing piece in the coronavirus stimulus bill: Relief for immigrants.” Vox, April 1, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.vox.com/2020/4/1/21197017/immigrants-coronavirus-stimulus-relief-bill.
[ii] Batalova, Jeanne, Blizzard, Britney and Bolter, Jessica. “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute. February 14, 2020. Accessed on April 3, 2020. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#Unauthorized%20Immigrants.
[iii] Health Coverage of Immigrants.” Kaiser Family Foundation. March 18, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/fact-sheet/health-coverage-of-immigrants/.
[iv] Dickerson, Caitlin, Jordan, Miriam and Shear, Michael. “Trump’s Policy Could Alter the Face of the American Immigrant.” The New York Times, August 14, 2019. Accessed April 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/us/immigration-public-charge-welfare.html.
[v] Jordan, Miriam. “’We’re Petrified’: Immigrants Afraid to Seek Medical Care for Coronavirus.” The New York Times, March 18, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/coronavirus-immigrants.html.
[vi] Batalova, Jeanne, Blizzard, Britney and Bolter, Jessica. Ibid.
[vii] He, Gary. “Why NYC’s Undocumented Restaurant Workers Are the Forgotten Victims of the Shutdown.” Eater. March 31, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://ny.eater.com/2020/3/31/21199490/nyc-restaurant-undocumented-worker-coronavirus.
[viii] Narea, Nicole. Ibid.
[ix] Mathema, Silva. “State-by-State Estimates of the Family Members of Unauthorized Immigrants.” Center for American Progress. March 16, 2017. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/news/2017/03/16/427868/state-state-estimates-family-members-unauthorized-immigrants/.
[x] Long, Clara. “Written Testimony: Kids in Cages: Inhumane Treatment at the Border.” Human Rights Watch. July 11, 2019. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/written-testimony-kids-cages-inhumane-treatment-border#
[xi] Narea, Nicole. Ibid.
[xii] Engelbrecht, Cora. “Fewer Immigrants Are Reporting Domestic Abuse. Police Blame Fear of Deportation. The New York Times. June 3, 2018. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/03/us/immigrants-houston-domestic-violence.html.
[xiii] Gupta, Alisha Haridasani. “Why Women May Face a Greater Risk of Catching Coronavirus.” New York Times. March 12, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/us/women-coronavirus-greater-risk.html.
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