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The Voice of Immigrants in the Time of Corona
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

— Emma Lazarus
The Voice of Immigrants in the Time of Corona
Mabel Sodeinde,
Social Transformation Intern,
WE in the World
The coronavirus further exposed and exacerbated the inequities of health access in our nation. As increasing reports of the virus and its global effect plagued the news every night, I became extremely fearful. While the coronavirus displaced me in terms of access to housing and had abruptly ended my employment, I couldn’t help but worry about my family in Nigeria. My father had taken a business-related trip back home weeks before the staggering death tolls were being reported in Wuhan. My sister, grandma, nieces, nephews, aunts, and uncles all lived there and I worried that if the virus hit the densely populated streets of Lagos, then I would ultimately lose them. Granted, if the virus had hit a few months before March when I had lived for over 2 years without health insurance, my fear for my own life would have been heightened. However, my access to health insurance put me in a better situation than my family, in Nigeria a variety of factors especially finances and a lack of basic infrastructure kept people from receiving the healthcare they need. 

In April, as demographic data started to reveal that the coronavirus primarily affected Black and Brown populations in the United States, I began to see it differently. Access to health insurance did not guarantee that I was safe from the coronavirus, years of health inequity and disparaging rates of poverty in the Black community had taken away that safety net from me, this virus was killing us. In May, as George Floyd’s death rocked the entire nation and the protests started, it felt as though our war was two-fold, we were fighting against coronavirus and our continuous brutality. Like every immigrant that comes to this country in search of a better life, there comes a moment where we realize that the US couldn’t provide protection from all of the dangers we escaped in our old life and the sudden arrival of the coronavirus exemplified that for me. Throughout this pandemic, I have been forced to confront issues of intersectionality by understanding ways that both my dual identities as Black and immigrant in this country threatens my existence. 
A CALL FOR UNITY FROM JOHN LEWIS
Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation
by John Lewis

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.
Crisis within a Crisis: Immigration in the United States in a Time of COVID-19
by Sarah Pierce and Muzaffar Chishti

Even without the “chilling effects” of the public-charge rule, non-citizens in the United States face significant hurdles in accessing health care, particularly in their first five years as legal permanent residents. Many non-citizens, and especially those who are unauthorized, are unable to afford adequate health-care coverage, relying heavily on community health centers and public hospitals, where they often confront limited capacity and language barriers. 
Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System:
A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 gave the administration new openings to push forward many of its remaining immigration policy aims. This period has seen bans on travel and a pause on visa issuance for certain groups of foreign nationals and a further closing off of the U.S.-Mexico border that has effectively ended asylum there.
Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images
How Immigrant Essential Workers Are Finding Support During COVID-19

Even at the best of times, the U.S. economy is heavily reliant on the labor of immigrants, including people who are undocumented. According to census data cited by New American Economy, in 2018 nearly 40% of workers in roles that supported health care services—from nursing assistants and home health aides to housekeepers, receptionists, janitors, and cooks—were undocumented.
Photo by Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images
Twin Rulings By Federal Judge Block 'Public Charge' Rules For Immigrants

In a decision that applies nationwide, the judge blocked further the implementation of a rule issued last year by the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration's rule widened the definition of a "public charge" — historically, a person entirely dependent on public aid for survival — that can be used for denying a change in immigration status.

If the immigration agency shuts down, how will we welcome aspiring Americans?
by Sharvari Dalal-Dheini and Royce Bernstein Murray

If USCIS staff are furloughed next month, the impact will be felt by families, businesses, and communities nationwide. This is not just an issue that impacts USCIS' Washington, D.C. headquarters. Career civil servants working in field offices, regional service centers, and asylum offices across the country will face serious economic hardship. Naturalization applications and oath ceremonies will grind to a halt, preventing people from registering to vote ahead of the presidential election.
Photo by Elias Castillo on Unsplash
Photo by Getty
U.S. Consumers And Producers Need Immigration In The Post-Covid World

While Zoom has emerged as a “unicorn,” a private firm valued at more than $1 billion, the story is not unique. Many other immigrant companies have made life better for U.S. consumers and producers in recent months. Instacart, the grocery delivery firm that lets families stock their pantries without leaving home, was founded by Apoorva Mehta. He was born in India, lived in Libya and moved to Canada before coming to the United States on a work visa.
Netflix’s ‘Immigration Nation’ offers an unflinching portrait inside ICE—and a broken system

Immigration Nation is a six-part docuseries that goes inside ICE’s operation to unveil the officers assigned to execute Trump’s orders, as well as the immigrants whose lives have been greatly impacted by those orders.
What’s It Like Being Undocumented During COVID-19?

Millions of people have applied for unemployment benefits due to COVID-19. But undocumented immigrants aren’t able to access any federal benefits, including the stimulus check. These two undocumented sisters are struggling to survive after they lost their jobs, and their father and brother died.
Immigrants in the U.S. Face Uncertainty Amid COVID-19

For US immigrants, coronavirus or COVID-19 has made their already imperiled existence even more perilous, as the US immigration during COVID-19 has thrown even more wrenches into a convoluted and unfair system.
Mediterranean Blue

If you are a child of a refugee, you do not
sleep easily when they are crossing the sea
on small rafts and you know they can’t swim.

My father couldn’t swim either. He swam through

sorrow, though, and made it to the other side

on a ship, pitching his old clothes overboard
at landing, then tried to be happy, make a new life.

But something inside him was always paddling home,

clinging to anything that floated —a story, a food, or face.

They are the bravest people on earth right now,

don’t dare look down on them. Each mind a universe

swirling as many details as yours, as much love

for a humble place. Now the shirt is torn,
the sea too wide for comfort, and nowhere
to receive a letter for a very long time.

And if we can reach out a hand, we better.


Naomi Shihab Nye,Mediterranean Blue
Photo by Ahmed Zayan on Unsplash
BRIGHT SPOTS
Forward: Solutions from Immigrant Journeys

Of course, grassroots organizing cannot singlehandedly create systemic change, which is what’s required to remove so many of the barriers facing immigrants in the U.S. today—be they rooted in policy or prejudice. Yet we also know that immigrant communities are filled with movement leaders and front-line activists, like Maru Mora Villalpando, committed to this central ethos: “Nothing about us, without us.”

The stories you’ll find in this special report focus on the change being led by and for immigrants, refugees, and migrants. We aim to complicate the narrative that is all too familiar to most U.S.-born readers; to challenge preconceived notions about who immigrates, what they do once they arrive, and how they organize to help empower and defend their communities.
It's Time to Tell a New Story
by Alexandra Rojas

When it comes to humanizing immigration, we need comprehensive immigration reform, and we also need comprehensive narrative reconciliation. We often think of “narrative” as a set of broad themes, ideals, and values that help to connect us and chronicle our stories to build support for change.

Our challenge is how to articulate a clear, practical, and moral story that deeply seeds our understanding of this polarization and its underlying causes. And, more important, it must recognize immigrants not as outsiders who are only essential during a pandemic, but as immigrants who are a permanent part of us, and always have been.
Photo book Spotlights Immigrant Stories

In her new book, "Finding Home,” photographer Becky Field has continued a years-long project of documenting and celebrating the state’s burgeoning diversity, keeping her lens focused on New Hampshire’s immigrants and refugees.

This time, Field gives her subjects space to speak for themselves.

Facing each lush color portrait in the book is a narrative about how each of the people Field photographed found themselves in New Hampshire, a state with a minority population of about 10 percent.
Photo by David Lane/Union Leader
Taiwanese immigrant who invented N95 mask on working amid COVID-19 racism
by Kimmy Yam

Peter Tsai, who patented the filtration material used in N95 respirators in 1995, said he has been inundated with questions about how to sterilize and maintain the efficacy of his technology since the beginning of the pandemic.

"I just thought I had this responsibility to help. So I came out of retirement," he said.
Immigrant Educators Helping Immigrant Students Through Coronavirus:
Maria Rocha, One of 2,000 Texas Teachers Covered by DACA, Is Turning Her Anxiety Into Advocacy

San Antonio second-grade teacher Maria Rocha knows the uncertainty facing many immigrant students. As a Dreamer who grew up in the Texas Hill Country, she lived it.

“Whatever they say is safe in the classroom,” Rocha said, “we need to make sure everybody is on the same social and emotional wavelength.”
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL BEING
Thriving Together: A Springboard for Equitable Recovery & Resilience in Communities Across America

In eight weeks from May through June 2020, more than 100 people and organizations diverted their daily work to help craft this Springboard for equitable recovery and resilience in communities across America.

We drafted this document for ourselves, and for everyone who wants to help America to emerge from the compounding crises of 2020 with greater resilience, humanity, and direction.
Informed Immigrant
Resources for Immigrants during the Coronavirus Crisis

InformedImmigrant.com is dedicated to increasing access to resources and knowledge for the undocumented immigrant community across the U.S. We understand that these times are especially hard on immigrant communities dealing with the unique challenges of coronavirus and immigration status.
Immigrants Rising
Tangible Support for Undocumented Communities during COVID-19

Immigrants Rising is committed to serving undocumented communities during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We put together this list of resources in March to help undocumented immigrants navigate the crisis.
The Hastings Center
COVID-19 Update: Essential Resources on Immigrant Health

The Hastings Center’s Undocumented Patients project, founded in 2011, maintains a public database of key literature and other resources on health care access for undocumented immigrants and other immigrant populations in the U.S.
Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees

Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees has complied a list of national and local coronavirus/COVID-19 immigrant response funds.
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