CWE COVID Response Program Spotlight: Immigration Protection Group

Immigration Protection Group partners advocate for immigrant workers during the pandemic. 

This month, we are continuing our series highlighting the work that New York City’s unions and community organizations undertook to support city workers during the COVID-19 health crisis and recession. Our recently released compendium, The Consortium for Worker Education Responds to the COVID-19 Pandemic, brings together the work of CWE and our partners during the pandemic. You can read it in full on our website. 

In today’s issue, we are covering the work of CWE’s Immigration Protection Group to support immigrant workers through the pandemic and help them assert their rights.

CWE created the Immigration Protection Group (IPG) seven years ago to coordinate a response among New York unions and community organizations to the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration. In the succeeding years, the organizations have adjusted their services to meet new challenges and needs facing immigrants. When New York City became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant communities were often the hardest hit and IPG partners were leading relief efforts.

Make the Road New York expanded its already extensive food pantry and New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) began providing food for their members with a new food distribution center. IPG partners also assisted immigrant families who lost loved ones in the pandemic, helping them navigate hospital systems to retrieve their relatives’ remains. 

Many immigrant workers lost their jobs during the COVID-19 recession. UNITE HERE Local 100, for instance, reported that 80% of its largely immigrant, limited English speaker members were unemployed. IPG members supported immigrants who were excluded from the unemployment benefits offered by the federal government, including Catholic Charities and Make the Road New York who provided cash assistance. IPG also worked with the New York City Central Labor Council to set advocacy priorities for immigrant workers. 

When immigrants returned to work -- or if they never stopped working in essential industries -- they were often ripe for exploitation by nefarious employers amidst the desperation of the pandemic. IPG partners had for years been training immigrant workers through a “Know Your Rights” curriculum focused on immigration enforcement. When the pandemic hit, these partners -- including UNITE HERE Local 100 and Make the Road New York -- added new topics to these trainings, such as workers’ rights to personal safety gear provided by employers in industries like food delivery, grocery, and warehousing. 

Members of the IPG also had to adjust their CWE-funded classroom programs for the new normal of the pandemic. 

Yemeni American Merchants Association was able to continue all existing ESOL classes for the wives of Yemeni merchants uninterrupted online. Over 70 YAMA members contracted  COVID-19, so YAMA utilized Facebook to have a doctor educate the public on health and safety measures. More than 18,000 people logged on to watch this critical presentation.

Make the Road New York was able to maintain a full array of classes for its membership and teachers used online platforms to consult directly with students and to offer them practical support with respect to housing, food, and financial relief.

Immigrant communities still needed the same legal services as before the pandemic. IPG members provide asylum services, family petitions, citizenship classes, assistance to victims of human trafficking, and legal fraud prevention, among other services. ANSOB Center for Refugees, Catholic Charities, and Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans (CIANA) were each making about one hundred calls per day at the height of the pandemic and extending working hours to serve immigrants with legal and support services.

During any crisis, immigrant workers are among the most impacted and most in need of support. Following 9/11, the Great Recession, and COVID-19, the CWE network was there for immigrants and all New York workers. These community organizations and unions need our continued support, so they can be strong for immigrant communities during the next crisis our city faces.