The Sitting Ducks of the Population.

By: Kian McCabe

Who is affected, and why?   

There are roughly 10-12 million people in the United States who are undocumented immigrants, the conditions that detained/undocumented immigrants face are causing an increase in the spread of COVID-19. If we want to flatten the curve of cases in the United States, we must try to allow them to better living conditions and fewer chances to stop spreading COVID-19.  

            In April, 124 immigrants in an ICE detention center tested positive for COVID-19. Many of them are stuck in those centers due to services such as naturalization and green card appointments being suspended. This forces many people to stay close together for long periods, ultimately increasing the chances of the spread of COVID-19 with not much being done to stop it. There is a current detainee population of 33,000; this creates a lack of necessary space to practice social distancing. Advocates and lawyers for immigrants are filing lawsuits to have detainees released due to their conditions. Most detainees are adults. However, many older adults and children have known to be more susceptible to COVID-19 staying in these centers. Although ICE has claimed to separate people who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 from the general population, it is still naïve to think that keeping them in a detention center is a safe action plan.   

Hispanics are especially affected as those adults in families with noncitizens are more likely to be facing material hardships. 42% of Hispanic adults in families with noncitizens reported food insecurity, meaning they lacked access to enough food. 25% of Hispanics are reported to going without medical care in the previous because of the cost. Nearly 1 in 5 people did not pay their full rent or mortgage or were late with such payment because of financial burdens due to the pandemic.  

 Image Source: https://www.gcir.org/news/immigrant-families-hit-hard-pandemic-may-be-afraid-receive-help-they-need  

Is being married hurting certain people?   

Another issue is that these people do not qualify for the government stimulus checks, potentially making the rate of poverty and worsen conditions increase in the United States, along with undocumented immigrants not qualifying for the stimulus checks people U.S citizens who are married to noncitizens do not qualify for it either. “The government’s CARES Act offers $1,200 to Americans earning up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income and have a Social Security number and $500 for each child. But it excludes millions of tax-paying immigrants who do not have legal status — and it also blocks U.S. citizens if they file a joint tax return with a spouse who does not have a Social Security numbers.” This worsens the conditions for not only the undocumented immigrants but also the U.S citizens. Many immigrants work in some essential business making many of them risk exposure to COVID-19, and if they do get exposed, many of them cannot afford to be out of work, so being denied a stimulus check is making things worse.   

The issue of COVID-19 should not be based around immigration politics; without focusing on everyone’s health and safety, the cases will never lower, and people will continue to get sick, eventually increasing the delay of many reopening plans and current safety measures. As of July, there are over 4 million COVID-19 cases, and this number may continue to rise without a proper change in existing conditions both physically and economically.   

Who wants a change?   

According to a study made by the Pew Research Center, “adults (68%) say the federal government has a responsibility to provide medical care to undocumented immigrants who are ill with the coronavirus, even as relatively few (37%) say the government should offer economic help to undocumented immigrants who have lost their job due to the outbreak” however Hispanic people are more supportive of economic and medical care responsibility of the government with 62% and 86% respectively. A substantial majority of black adults support it as well. This is expected with both groups of people being significantly affected by the COVID-19, with them having more cases and deaths and the fact that they make up a substantial majority of the immigration population.   

Image Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/20/americans-favor-medical-care-but-not-economic-aid-for-undocumented-immigrants-affected-by-covid-19/ft_2020-05-20_immigration_01/  

 Medical Issues   

A new policy has immigrant families fear that accessing critical support for themselves and their families would jeopardize their safety and immigration status. This puts their communities at risk, which houses these citizens and can also hold other citizens, children, and essential workers. Although the federal government reassured during a March 13 statement that immigrants and undocumented seeking testing for or treatment for COVID-19 would not be considered in public charge determinations and their information would not be released anywhere that could risk their immigrant status. The current state of the immigration policy in the United States makes the implementation details unclear, making many immigrants not wanting to take the risk, which causes more issues and potentially more spread because they are not guaranteed safe medical care.