Last week, President Donald Trump signed into law a bipartisan $2 trillion economic stimulus package aimed to support workers and the U.S. economy through the devastating spread of Covid-19. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act is needed to ensure that SEIU members and other working families who are still showing up to work and on the frontlines of the fight against the coronavirus, are protected and safe.
Covid-19 legislative deal includes critical support for working families, but leaves among the most vulnerable out
The CARES Act leaves millions of them unable to access Medicaid to pay for testing for the virus, including many Dreamers, people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and undocumented workers.
Por:
Rocío Sáenz.
New Rochelle, was one of the first place to be struck by the coronavirus in New York. March 12 2020.
Imagen Justin Lane/EFE
As my mom worked and parented, all in one breath, she instilled in us the values that I carry with me today: “por la familia, todo.” Lee este contenido en <a href="https://www.univision.com/noticias/opinion/por-la-familia-todo-ruben-gallego-sobre-su-candidatura-para-ser-el-primer-senador-latino-de-arizona" target="_blank" link-data="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000147-f3a5-d4ea-a95f-fbb7f52b0000","_type":"ae3387cc-b875-31b7-b82d-63fd8d758c20"},"cms.content.publishDate":1726508089253,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-d1c8-de50-affb-f1df3e1d0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"cms.content.updateDate":1726508089253,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017b-d1c8-de50-affb-f1df3e1d0000","_type":"6aa69ae1-35be-30dc-87e9-410da9e1cdcc"},"link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.univision.com/noticias/opinion/por-la-familia-todo-ruben-gallego-sobre-su-candidatura-para-ser-el-primer-senador-latino-de-arizona","_id":"00000191-fbe6-d0b9-a3df-ffee82b60000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"linkText":"español","_id":"00000191-fbe6-d0b9-a3df-ffee82b10000","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">español</a>.
"What a sad reflection that the Republican Party has moved from Abraham Lincoln, who <a href="https://www.lincolncottage.org/lincoln-and-immigration/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.lincolncottage.org/lincoln-and-immigration/&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw1h4-6RbvpglrZVIbOjgpuE" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">said </a>immigration was a ‘source of national wealth and strength’ and Ronald Reagan, who <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/farewell-address-nation&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw3smYQcjpnK2Yg75NSEOBUf" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">called </a>for his ‘city on the hill’ to be ‘open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here,’ to Donald Trump, who <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-says-immigrants-are-poisoning-blood-country-biden-campaign-liken-rcna130141&source=gmail&ust=1722615259799000&usg=AOvVaw1u4LrDvU2tKeNxJCdbz96i" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">says </a>immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country".
"Our current immigration laws include so many hurdles that can keep families in limbo, and even being married to a U.S. citizen isn’t always enough to allow someone to get a green card".
"For those of us whose livelihoods depend on it, President Biden’s actions to protect and preserve DACA show a striking contrast with those of Trump and MAGA Republicans. Trump has a record of trying to end DACA and will try again if he wins another term".
"While immigrants by now are accustomed to being the tip of the spear in the GOP’s arsenal of attacks, let's be clear-eyed that the threat now is beyond harming immigrant communities or calling attention to the border. This is about using this issue as a tool to further Trump’s political ambitions, even if that means suppressing the right to vote, undermining our election results, or stoking more political violence".
"This month comes at a special moment in our nation’s history. For the first time, we have more Latinos serving in Congress than ever before. In the Senate, the Democratic Majority has confirmed a historic number of Latino judicial nominees and recently confirmed the first Latina to serve on the Federal Reserve in the Board’s 109-year history".
"This is the clean energy boom unleashed by President Biden: good-paying jobs in a fast-growing industry and lower bills for working families — all while addressing the climate crisis affecting our lives".
Putting presidents, former presidents and coup plotters on trial is an honorable and necessary practice to maintain a healthy democracy. Failure to put on trial presidents or former presidents who broke the law or committed crimes has had devastating consequences in Latin America.
Mexico's migrant policy bears responsibility for the deaths of 39 migrants in the fire at a detention center in Ciudad Juarez. They were in the custody of the Mexican government, in a federal facility.
But much more is needed. The bill leaves some of the communities that are most in need of help in this moment of crisis with less care and assistance than others, and in so doing makes all of us less safe. Immigrants are our coworkers, neighbors and friends. They live in our communities and right now are on the frontlines of the epidemic. They are powerful leaders in SEIU, and without them our service and care workforces would grind to a halt. Yet this bill, together with the one signed by the President last week, excludes millions of them from some of the core programs designed to keep us all safe and able to weather this storm.
One out of six healthcare providers who are on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are immigrants, including 28 percent of physicians and surgeons; 24 percent of nurses and psychiatric and homecare workers. In hospitals, childcare centers, airports, office buildings and other workplaces across America, immigrants are essential workers fighting to win a union, and united to stop the spread of the coronavirus and ensure that all working people are protected as we go about our work.
Yet this bill leaves millions of them unable to access Medicaid to pay for testing for the virus, including many Dreamers, people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and undocumented workers. The bill provides cash funds that will enable many people who are sick, or sheltering in place, to do so without starving their families or losing their homes. But this bill makes millions of immigrants ineligible for these programs and many of them will therefore be forced to leave home to work despite the danger to themselves or others. Excluding them from the same medical and other services that everyone else can obtain is not only morally wrong but dangerous to the health and well-being of all our communities.
Essential workers like TPS holder, Arcadio Mejia, a nurse assistant for over twelve years who continues to show up to work and clock-in extra hours to help meet the demand as cases of Covid-19 continue to rise. Arcadio worries of contracting the virus and in turn putting his family at risk.
We must and can do better for workers like Arcadio Mejia. Congress should immediately begin work on a new bill that ensures that everyone who needs testing and treatment of the virus can do so regardless of immigration status and provide the assistance necessary to allow everyone who must stay home to protect their family or the public’s health to do so.
(Rocío Sáenz, is SEIU International Executive Vice President and iAmerica President)