A recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) study taken in the wake of Hurricane Harvey revealed that while 74 percent of immigrant respondents reported “some type of property damage to their home or vehicle and/or some form of job or income loss” as a result of the disaster, they were much less likely than US-born Texans also affected by the storm to seek help, exacerbating challenges already facing them “even before Hurricane Harvey hit.”
According to the survey taken in 24 counties along the Texas Gulf Coast, 48 percent were “somewhat” or “very worried” that if they sought assistance, it could call attention to a family member’s immigration status, or their own, and put them at risk of deportation. “Further highlighting the income challenges that Texas Gulf Coast immigrants experienced as a result of Hurricane Harvey, the survey also finds foreign-born residents disproportionately likely to report financial difficulties in the months after the hurricane”:
Compared to residents born in the United States, immigrants affected by Harvey were significantly more likely to say that they or any other adult in their household had fallen behind in paying their rent or mortgage since the storm (39 percent versus 24 percent). Similarly, a larger share of immigrants said that they or a family member had borrowed money from a payday lender to make ends meet (22 percent versus 9 percent).
Immigrants were also more likely to report problems accessing health care in the wake of the storm. About a quarter (24 percent) of immigrants who were affected by the storm said they needed more help with getting the medical care they and their family needed, compared to a smaller share (13 percent) of native-born residents.
“Four in ten immigrants whose homes were damaged said they applied for disaster assistance from either FEMA or the SBA following the hurricane,” researchers found. “while almost two-thirds of native-born residents said they applied.” According to the Houston Chronicle last year, some undocumented Texans holed up in their homes rather than risk exposing themselves to federal agents who were assisting in recovery efforts, despite flooding in some areas going chest-high. "As soon they saw some of the rescuers wearing border patrol uniforms,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigration advocacy group FIEL, “they didn't want to come out.”