To All Members of the United States Congress,

We, the undersigned, express our support for granting COVID-19 benefits to undocumented immigrants.

A recent memorandum issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified millions of workers who “conduct a range of operations and services that are typically essential to continued critical infrastructure viability.” Jobs deemed to be “critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security” include those in the “Food and Agriculture” and “Healthcare and Public Health” sectors. According to data from the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Labor, more than 2.2 million undocumented immigrants currently work in the agriculture, food manufacturing, and food service industries, while almost 280,000 are employed in the healthcare industry. The government recommends that these essential undocumented workers continue to show up to work because critical sectors of the country would cease to function properly without them, while at the same time threatening to arrest and/or deport them and denying them most of the basic rights and protections afforded to everyone else in this country. Showing up to work at a farm, factory, kitchen, or hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic means putting yourself at risk of exposure to a highly contagious and deadly disease for which there is currently no effective treatment.

This means that upwards of 2.5 million undocumented but essential workers are putting their health and lives at risk so that the rest of us can have food on the table and adequate care if we fall sick, but they themselves have few legal protections to ensure their own financial and physical well-being and that of their families. While most others who face economic hardship in this country will receive financial assistance from the government as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, undocumented immigrants will not be eligible to receive any of this money, even though most of them pay federal, state, and local taxes. While most others who face personal or family illness in this country will be eligible to receive paid sick leave and family leave as well as free testing for COVID-19 as part of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), it remains unclear whether undocumented immigrants (almost half of whom are uninsured) will be eligible to receive these benefits.

This is wrong. Every person who leaves the safety of their house during this pandemic in order to harvest, process, and prepare our food or to take care of those who are sick and suffering is a hero, regardless of their immigration status. We should not treat our heroes like pariahs. We should take care of the people, all the people, who take care of us.

Therefore, we call on members of the US Congress to enact legislation ensuring that undocumented immigrants receive the same benefits afforded to US citizens under the FFCRA and CARES Act as well as additional hazard pay for any essential work they perform during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.