State and Local Aid for Immigrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Innovating Inclusion

Suro, Roberto; Findling, Hannah

doi:10.14240/cmsesy070820

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Federal guidelines seek to promote the ability of essential workers “to continue to work during periods of community restriction” (ibid.). States, in turn, have produced template letters for use by critical infrastructure employers and employees that seek to ensure that essential workers can travel to and from work, and can carry out their job responsibilities without interference from public officials (Suro and Findling 2020).…”

Section: Foreign-born Workers and Covid-19: The Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

US Foreign-Born Workers in the Global Pandemic: Essential and Marginalized

Kerwin¹,

Warren

2020

Journal on Migration and Human Security

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Executive Summary This article provides detailed estimates of foreign-born (immigrant) workers in the United States who are employed in “essential critical infrastructure” sectors, as defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (DHS 2020). Building on earlier work by the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), the article offers exhaustive estimates on essential workers on a national level, by state, for large metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), and for smaller communities that heavily rely on immigrant labor. It also reports on these workers by job sector; immigration status; eligibility for tax rebates under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act); and other characteristics. It finds that: Sixty-nine percent of all immigrants in the US labor force and 74 percent of undocumented workers are essential workers, compared to 65 percent of the native-born labor force. Seventy percent of refugees and 78 percent of Black refugees are essential workers. In all but eight US states, the foreign-born share of the essential workforce equals or exceeds that of all foreign-born workers, indicating that immigrant essential workers are disproportionately represented in the labor force. The percentage of undocumented essential workers exceeds that of native-born essential workers by nine percentage points in the 15 states with the largest labor force. In the ten largest MSAs, the percentages of undocumented and naturalized essential workers exceed the percentage of native-born essential workers by 12 and 6 percent, respectively. A total of 6.2 million essential workers are not eligible for relief payments under the CARES Act, as well as large numbers of their 3.8 million US citizen children (younger than age 17), including 1.2 million US citizen children living in households below the poverty level. The foreign-born comprise 33 percent of health care workers in New York State, 32 percent in California, 31 percent in New Jersey, 28 percent in Florida, 25 percent in Nevada and Maryland, 24 percent in Hawaii, 23 percent in Massachusetts, and 19 percent in Texas. Section I of the article describes the central policy paradox for foreign-born workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: that they are “essential” at very high rates, but many lack status and they have been marginalized by US immigration and COVID-19-related policies. Section II sets forth the article’s main findings. Section III outlines major policy recommendations.

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Section: Foreign-born Workers and Covid-19: The Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

US Foreign-Born Workers in the Global Pandemic: Essential and Marginalized

Kerwin¹,

Warren

2020

Journal on Migration and Human Security

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“…Immigrants are in even more need of assistance than during the pre-pandemic period. According to the 2) extend economic relief measures to unauthorized migrants and (3) provide support regardless of immigration status with respect to eligibility (Suro and Findling, 2020). Surprisingly, our study found that the economic stimulus funds and business aid did not significantly alleviate the financial fragility that immigrants experienced from COVID-19, which highlights the need to use an alternative approach to mitigate the pandemic's potential effects on immigrants' financial resilience and well-being.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), immigrants are eligible for major federal public assistance programs, while state governments provide financial assistance to immigrants who are ineligible for federally-funded services (NILC, 2022). State and local governments with a higher proportion of foreign-born populations have taken measures to (1) target immigrants explicitly, (2) extend economic relief measures to unauthorized migrants and (3) provide support regardless of immigration status with respect to eligibility (Suro and Findling, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The COVID-19 pandemic and perceived risks of immigrants in the United States

Lee

Kim

2023

IJBM

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PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused hundreds of thousands of people to suffer severe illness or die and has had severe effects on individuals’ financial well-being as well. Unfortunately, it is very likely that the pandemic has had a disproportionate effect, particularly on vulnerable and underserved groups, including immigrants in the USA. This study aims to examine the association between perceived health risk and perceived financial risk attributable to COVID-19, and focuses on their heterogeneous effects depending upon immigrant status.Design/methodology/approachThe study used the Understanding America Study (UAS) COVID-19 National Survey data collected from April 2020 to July 2021. Sets of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and fixed effects regression analyses were conducted on the perceived risk COVID-19 poses on households’ finances. The main focal variables of interest were immigrant status and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and death.FindingsThe results showed that the correlation between health risk and perceived financial risk was much higher among first- and second-generation immigrants. Surprisingly, various types of government aid did not have a consistent and significant effect on the recipients’ perception of the risk that COVID-19 poses to their household finances.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few attempts to empirically examine the association between perceived health risk and financial risk during the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on the heterogeneity by immigrant status. The authors used an appropriate methodology that considered the panel structure of the UAS COVID-19 National Survey’s data. The study provides important implications for researchers and policymakers related to immigrants’ financial well-being.

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“…For instance, they are identifiable and easy for authorities to contact (Logan 2008). In contrast, Latine immigrants, especially those that are undocumented, work hard to remain under the radar, often choosing not to open bank accounts (Suro et al 2002) or sign housing contracts. Second, federal disaster relief programs are designed using a cost-benefit approach intended to compensate for monetary losses to allocate disaster assistance, which privileges areas with higher property values (Jerolleman 2019; Kamel 2012), barring low-income populations, such as Latine immigrants, from assistance.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term housing recovery among Mexican immigrants: How service providers navigate racialized anti-immigrant disaster recovery policies

Villarreal

2023

International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters

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Disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity. Much of the current disaster literature adopts a social vulnerability perspective, which considers how political, social, and economic factors influence pre-disaster preparation and post-disaster recovery. Even with this focus, however, there remains a dearth of literature on immigrant populations and their long-term recovery trajectories. This paper applies a racial formation framework to a disaster context. I seek to show how service providers from community-based organizations (CBOs) navigate racialized anti-immigrant disaster recovery policies to help the Mexican immigrant community in Houston, Texas with their long-term housing recovery after Hurricane Harvey. I conducted semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observations with service providers from CBOs located in Houston that serve this population with post-disaster housing. I argue that the disaster recovery system is comprised of racial structures and racialized anti-immigrant policies, passively and actively limiting the access to resources for the Mexican immigrant community. I found that to challenge the racial structures and racialized anti-immigrant policies of the disaster recovery system, service providers assist the community through direct assistance to Mexican immigrants excluded from other programs; collaboration with other organizations to combine limited resources; helping the community navigate racialized anti-immigrant bureaucracy; and building trust by embedding themselves in the victimized community. However, findings also show that these organizations face significant challenges in conducting their work. This research brings a much-needed theoretical expansion of race and racialization theories to disaster research.

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State and Local Aid for Immigrants during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Innovating Inclusion

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

US Foreign-Born Workers in the Global Pandemic: Essential and Marginalized

US Foreign-Born Workers in the Global Pandemic: Essential and Marginalized

The COVID-19 pandemic and perceived risks of immigrants in the United States

Long-term housing recovery among Mexican immigrants: How service providers navigate racialized anti-immigrant disaster recovery policies

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