Don’t leave Latinos out of pandemic aid
The coronavirus numbers are devastating, with over 1.2 million cases and over 72,000 deaths in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of additional cases around the world. Beyond these numbers, our communities — from El Paso to Houston to Miami — have had to adapt to the new normal: social distancing, stay-athome orders, a skyrocketing unemployment rate, small businesses shuttering and a collapsing economy.
Each of us has family members, friends and constituents who have been affected by this crisis. This virus simply does not care about a person’s age, race, immigration status or how much money they earn.
The pandemic has exposed the life-anddeath inequities faced by Latinos that have worsened the impacts on nuestra gente.
Among many others, these inequities include disparities in income, a broken immigration system and a lack of access to health care. These inequities are even worse among Latinas, who only earn 54 cents for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic man makes and are likely to work in America’s growing low-income economy.
According to a report by Mijente and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, “of the 26 million Latino workers in the U.S. workforce, over 24 percent of them work in low-wage jobs.” But this 24 percent comprises a critical portion of our collective workforce.
These Latinos are the essential workers risking their lives on the front lines of this pandemic to keep our country running. They are farmworkers, grocery store clerks, truck drivers, postal workers, longshoremen, sanitation workers and child care providers. They are feeding America, cleaning our hospitals, keeping our ports open and fueling our economy, and many more are keeping us safe and saving lives as first responders and health care professionals.
And while they are relied upon to keep our nation functioning during this pandemic, Latinos are suffering. A staggering 49 percent of Latinos say someone in their household has suffered a pay cut or lost a job due to COVID-19, compared to 33 percent of U.S. adults. Nearly 50 percent of Latinos report being terrified that they won’t be able to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads. These are the stories of many of our constituents in Texas and South Florida.
But the Trump administration and a vast majority of Republicans in Congress have turned their backs on so many Latinos across America. They refuse to help our communities in order to appease President Donald Trump’s agenda.
They welcome the more than $15 billion that mixed-status families pay in taxes every year, yet deny many of them economic relief exactly when families are suffering the most. They continue to assault the future of Dreamers, even as thousands are on the front lines saving lives and treating patients as health care workers. And they turned a blind eye when Latino small businesses struggled to access SBA relief funds, despite Latinos opening more small businesses in America than any other demographic.
There is a reason so many in our communities feel invisible and forgotten. Despite our best efforts and the advocacy of so many elected officials and community organizations, Republicans refused to give economic relief to many Latinos desperately in need under the CARES Act or the recently passed Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act.
In the face of this obstruction, we will not stop fighting to ensure that all people get the economic relief they need during these difficult times. As we continue to work on additional relief packages in Congress, we challenge Senate and House Republicans to remember President Lincoln’s words and to be inspired by “the better angels of our nature” by:
• Accelerating the nationwide deployment of rapid testing, ventilator, and protective equipment to hard-hit communities in many Latino and African American neighborhoods.
• Giving protective equipment and expedient medical care to detained immigrant mothers and children, as well as ICE and CBP staff.
• Expanding access to health care instead of trying to dismantle it in the courts.
• Extending economic relief to all individuals with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers.
• Ensuring Latino small businesses have access to the relief funds needed to save their enterprise and keep workers on payroll.
• Streamlining processes for applying for unemployment that will quickly help Latinos that have disproportionately lost their jobs.
• Providing clinics, hospitals and health care systems with the equipment needed to treat sick patients and give mental health care to patients and health care workers who have experienced trauma during this crisis.
• Allocating funds to help underserved and underfunded school systems bridge the digital divide as students learn from home.
• Funding multilingual, culturally inclusive educational efforts on public TV and radio to ensure that Latinos can access information they need to understand the pandemic and the steps they need to take to protect themselves and their families.
• Providing hazard pay for health care workers and essential workers on the front lines of this crisis.
As members of Congress, we have a responsibility to work for the people and pass legislation to improve the lives of hardworking families. We are living through an unprecedented moment in history that will define the future of our nation.
We are fighting to make sure that Latinos and the most vulnerable among us are not forgotten. They deserve better. We intend to give them just that.