It’s a fact that undocumented workers are part of the backbone of numerous U.S. industries and pay $12 billion in local and state taxes every year. Yet they’ve been unfairly shut out of important coronavirus legislation, including up to $1,200 in cash relief recently passed by Congress and signed into law. With further relief packages expected to come, these families are calling on legislators to not forget them.
"The last three weeks have been horrendous. I have suffered a lot because this has been a really difficult time," Ingrid, a housekeeper in Washington, D.C., said according to Newsweek. Like many other domestic workers, she’s seen clients cancel, but because she lacks legal status, she won’t be seeing a check in her mail from the government to supplement her income. "People need to understand that we are also part of this community," she continued. "We also have families and children."
As World Relief leader Tim Breene noted last month, “Those who file their taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security number have been left out” of coronavirus legislation. An ITIN, American Immigration Council explains, “is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to ensure that people—including unauthorized immigrants—pay taxes even if they do not have a Social Security number and regardless of their immigration status.”
That exclusion will be devastating to workers like Rosana, who said during a call organized by National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) on Thursday that after nearly two decades of domestic work, she’s suddenly out of a livelihood. "A lot of this process has made it really difficult for me to actually see how to pay rent or my utilities," she said, according to Newsweek. Like many other undocumented immigrants, she also worries about what happens if she gets sick. "There's a lot of fear for me, especially because I am somebody that doesn't have health insurance as an undocumented person and I could not get help from the federal government.”
As Daily Kos’ Aysha Qamar noted last month, undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable right now not only due to lack of insurance, “but fear for family and friends who may be undocumented.” While Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy states that hospitals are generally off-limits to immigration enforcement, families are still in fear because this is also an untrustworthy agency that has been set loose by an untrustworthy administration.
“While some workers, like the two housekeepers, are struggling to find work, others have told the NDWA that they feel forced to put their health at risk by going to work in order to support their families,” Newsweek continued. It’s not only undocumented housekeepers getting passed over, either. It’s also farm workers, nannies, restaurant workers, construction workers, and millions of other workers who help keep our nation running. Their exclusion “needs to change immediately,” NDWA executive director Ai-jen Poo said, according to Newsweek.
“All working people, regardless of immigration status, need to be included in relief efforts,” she said. “Undocumented families should not have to navigate this crisis alone. Our own health depends on the health of the person next to us, and the person next to them. We call on all levels of government to provide temporary and permanent solutions to undocumented domestic workers during this pandemic."
