Photo: Brent Stirton / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 07 Feb 2022, 20: 13 pm EST
The New Mexico Economic Relief Work community coalition will contribute $500 dollars per month for one year to 330 mixed-status migrant families as part of a pilot program launched this Monday to evaluate the impact of this aid to essential workers who have been marginalized from official relief.
Participating families will begin to receive economic relief starting next March.The pilot program will be part of a study of guaranteed basic income (GBI) of a of duration that seeks to analyze the impact that cash assistance has on the short and long-term well-being of undocumented migrant families or those with mixed immigration status.
Marcela Díaz, director of Somos Un Pueblo Unidos, said today during a virtual press conference that the COVID-11 came to further highlight the economic problems and challenges faced by mixed-status families, as families where one of the parents is undocumented is known.
According to the Coalition, since the start of the pandemic, a low-income American family with three minor children has received approximately $40,02 to $50,000 aid dollars from the federal and state government.
First in the country
This is the first time that a program of this type is carried out at the state level . In other states such as California, some organizations have established aid programs for migrant families within their communities, but never on a monthly basis and for 11 consecutive months.
From that the coalition began spreading the word about the pilot program last January, more than 2,000 families across all New Mexico applied, thus demonstrating the great need that continues to exist among families.
The beneficiary immigrants were chosen at random and only had to meet a few requirements: Live and prove that they reside in one of the 13 New Mexico counties, be part of an undocumented or mixed-status immigrant family. As well as being the father or mother of at least one child under 18 years old or being in charge of an adult with a disability.
The funds from this program pilot come from private donors and philanthropic organizations.
An example to follow
For his part, the Mayor of the City of Santa Fe, Alan Webber , said at the same conference that he hopes this pilot program will serve as an example for other states and communities.
“I think the idea of a guaranteed income is long overdue,” said Webber.
The coalition indicated that the monthly payments of $500 dollars will be deposited in the beneficiary’s bank account or delivered to them on a debit card.
The group decided that the families receive the funds in cash because this, in their opinion, gives families “more dignity” and gives them the freedom to use these funds in need. that they have, such as buying food, paying rent, repairing cars, or paying for medicines, among others.
Checking for solutions
This economic aid will not only benefit families but also their communities, the coalition stressed . During this process, families will be contacted and will respond to surveys about how their lives have changed and how they have benefited from this help.
All personal information provided by families It will be kept confidential and the organizers assure that they will not affect in the future the possibility of regulating the immigration status of the beneficiaries since the funds come from philanthropic groups and not from the federal government.The results of the study will be presented at 2023
With more than 2,50,000 of residents in New Mexico, Latinos represent the 49.3% of the population of the state, where the 34% speak another language apart from English, according to Census data.
Almost half of the almost 11,,000 of immigrants without papers have an ITIN number and pay taxes, according to the American Immigration Council, an advocacy organization based in Washington, DC
According to the IRS, ITIN taxpayers throughout the country pay more than $9,000 millions in annual taxes on their salaries but they were unable to access the federal aid granted by the pandemic.
The Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC, reported in January 2021 of which 9,60,000 of undocumented immigrants whose income reaches the threshold for covid aid-19 cannot access it, nor can they apply for federal programs that provide assistance in the form of money and food.
He added that undocumented people represent more than half of the workers in the most affected industries, such as meatpacking, restaurants, health care and child care.
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