Coronavirus’s Effect on the Undocumented
On March 27th, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The legislation contains over $2 trillion in economic relief for the United States amid the current coronavirus crisis. This stimulus package includes direct payments to American families to help them weather the challenges brought on by COVID-19, such as unemployment. The CARES Act gives much-needed relief to many American families across the nation, but it notably leaves one large group out: undocumented immigrants.
The coronavirus does not discriminate based on legal status–it affects undocumented people just as much as anyone else. Despite his usual rhetoric surrounding undocumented immigrants, President Donald Trump seems to recognize the difficulties that many undocumented people are facing due to the virus. When asked about how they would survive the crisis without aid, he responded “It’s a really sad situation, and we are working on it. I will tell you I’m not going to give you a hard and fast answer because I just want to tell you it’s something I think about.” Unfortunately, the president’s supposedly sympathetic thoughts have not translated into actual aid for the undocumented. According to California Governor Gavin Newsom, 10% of California’s workforce is made up of undocumented laborers. Although they paid over $2.5 billion in local and state taxes last year, they are unable to obtain neither unemployment insurance nor any federal aid from the CARES package. Recognizing the need for aid, the state of California has made undocumented immigrants eligible for payments from a $125 million coronavirus disaster relief fund.
Many undocumented immigrants pay federal taxes, though they do not have social security numbers. How is this possible? Undocumented immigrants can obtain “Individual Tax Identification Numbers” (ITINs) from the IRS. ITINs are tax processing numbers that allow people without legal status to pay federal taxes. ITINs are used not only by undocumented immigrants, but also by others who are lawfully in the country but not eligible for social security numbers. According to the American Immigration Council, these people include foreign national students who qualify as US residents, dependents or spouses of US citizens or lawful permanent residents, and dependents or spouses of foreign nationals on temporary visas. ITIN holders pay taxes, but they are not eligible for the same benefits that people with social security numbers are.
This has important implications for who receives stimulus checks from the CARES Act and who does not. People only receive stimulus checks if they have filed income taxes using a social security number. This means that anyone who has filed taxes using an ITIN is not eligible to receive federal aid from the CARES stimulus package. It is not just undocumented immigrants themselves that are unable to receive stimulus checks, but also other members of their families. If an undocumented person has dependent children with social security numbers, their children will not receive the typical $500 payment. Also, if a married couple files a joint income tax return, and only one of them has a social security number while the other has an ITIN, they are usually not eligible for a stimulus check. This problem is impacting not just undocumented families, but also the families of legal immigrants. For example, my cousin is in the US on a temporary work visa and has a social security number, but his wife only has an ITIN because she is the spouse of someone with a temporary visa. This has caused not only her to be ineligible for stimulus checks, but also him and his children, even though all of them are in the United States legally.
According to the Pew Research Center, there were an estimated 10.5 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States in 2017. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the US economy heavily depended on undocumented labor. Now, as “essential workers” are asked to continue leaving their homes for work, many undocumented people find themselves at the front lines of the coronavirus response with no governmental protections. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security has released a list of “essential critical infrastructure workers” who they recommend local and state governments should keep working. The list includes healthcare workers, those who work in the food industry, agricultural workers, and transportation workers. Since these areas of work depend heavily on undocumented labor, a disproportionate number of undocumented people are being asked to put themselves in danger. According to data from the Pew Research Center, undocumented workers make up 53% of hired farm labor, 15% of construction labor, and 6% of transportation workers. It is sad that it takes a pandemic for the federal government to see undocumented people as “essential”. Interestingly, ICE has decided to “temporarily adjust its enforcement posture” by focusing on “public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds”. It is possible that this decision was taken for reasons other than the fact that undocumented workers are more crucial than ever to the US economy, but it is nevertheless an interesting idea to consider.
Undocumented immigrants are currently facing a myriad of issues, such as lack of access to unemployment benefits and having to continue going to work without adequate personal protective equipment or effective social distancing measures in place. However, the exploitation and suffering of undocumented people is nothing new – the pandemic has simply magnified existing problems. Undocumented people have always been one of the most vulnerable groups in America, and the federal government is treating them with the same uncaring attitude they always have.
Photo provided by Fibonacci Blue on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.