At the start of the pandemic, it was thought that COVID-19 would be a great equalizer. The virus did not discriminate along class, race, citizenship status, or any other social construct — everyone was in the same boat. The opposite quickly became true. As the pandemic progressed, it became clear that already marginalized communities were far more susceptible to infection and the collateral damage brought by the pandemic. This vulnerability has been especially true for immigrants in the U.S.
Lax safety measures in detention centers, restrictions of legal immigration, discrimination, and ineligibility of to access desperately needed federal support compounded the negative effects of this pandemic on immigrant communities. These gross oversights to protect immigrants, who are more likely to be involved in “essential work” than non-immigrants and more likely to lack health care, are not only moral and humanitarian failures, but further risked public health and the ability of the U.S to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
We highlight a few ways that the pandemic was used to deny immigrants of their rights and what you can do to support immigrants during this pandemic.
DANGEROUS DETENTION FACILITIES
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on those who are incarcerated in the U.S.–with infection rates were far higher within the prison population compared to the public due to lack of access to sanitary products, inability to social distance, lack of medical care, etc.
Similar to prisons and jails, immigration detention centers provided the ideal conditions for COVID-19 to rapidly spread. In fiscal year 2019, the average daily number of immigrants held in detention centers was over 50,000, a 19% increase from fiscal year 2018. The overwhelming majority of detained immigrants in the U.S. are held absent any criminal conviction. Rather, the U.S. has increasingly turned to detention as the primary means of surveilling immigrants including those who are waiting for asylum rulings. More than anything else, U.S. detention centers serve as administrative holding pens for immigrants awaiting their cases. The denial of due process, indefinite detention without cause and the atrocious conditions of detention centers, which only grew worse under the Trump Administration was a clear violation of detainees’ human rights and domestic and international law.
Detention centers lack the space necessary for staff and detainees to practice the social distancing necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. Outside of a pandemic, these centers were already failing at meeting the basic hygiene needs of those in detention. Exacerbating the problem was the scarce supply of hygienic items like soap and hand sanitizer for those detained. At some centers, if items were available at all, they were only available to detainees who can afford to buy them.
By June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that 5,096 COVID-19 tests had been administered to detainees, a fraction of the nearly 50,000 immigrants detained in the agency’s more than 200 detention centers. However, the lack of robust data from ICE made it near impossible for public health officials to verify the positive daily rates within detainees, though they were certain that rates were much higher than the general public.
In the absence of substantial federal effort to improve conditions in facilities, the public mobilized to call for greater protections for detainees. Some detainees went on hunger strike to protest lax ICE safety measures, while others found covert ways to share with the public the unsafe conditions they were kept in. Protests occurred outside detention centers with the public demanding the release of detainees–especially those with vulnerable health conditions. On the legal front, civil rights organizations across the country brought lawsuits against detention centers and the federal government for violating the human rights of detainees.
CURTAILED LEGAL IMMIGRATION
The Trump Administration resorted to using the pandemic as a guise to pass restrictive policies that curbed legal immigration and asylum. In March, as COVID-19 concerns were gaining traction in the U.S, the U.S reached agreements with Canada and Mexico to suspend non-essential travel along their respective borders. In a more drastic move, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) began expelling those who came to the U.S-Mexico border seeking asylum. CBP justified turning away asylum seekers citing a March emergency guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services which granted the Center for Disease control the right to prohibit the “introduction” of new individuals if they posed a threat of spreading disease. This suspension of asylum claims was likely at odds with international law.
Internationally, the country closed its embassies. These closures put a stop to all immigration applications, including those petitioning for family reunification or submitting employment-based visas. In April, the administration issued new guidelines that prohibited the entry of certain immigrants with the justification of preserving domestic employment opportunities during the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19.
Around the same time, the United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) halted its immigration processing work within the country. With the closure of USCIS public operations, all internal immigration processes were suspended. These closures meant that naturalization ceremonies were reduced or suspended. For permanent residents approved to become citizens, their citizenship status is not officially complete until they take the oath in a naturalization ceremony. The delay in naturalization meant that those who were approved for citizenship could not access the full protections and rights of citizenship, including voting. While official numbers aren’t yet available on how many of the backlogged would-be citizens were able to take the oath in time for the voter registration cut-off in October, for every day oath ceremonies weren’t held, an estimated 2100 immigrants lost out on becoming citizens.
INCREASED VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS and PACIFIC ISLANDERS
From 2019-2020, there was an 149% increase in reported hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) that was generally believed to be a result of the pandemic. The Asian Policy and Planning Council found that just in the first weeks of the pandemic in the U.S, there was a 50% increase in news articles about harassment and discrimination against Asian Americans. Inflammatory language from political leaders was an important contributor to the increased targeting of AAPI communities. Despite the World Health Organization’s repeated pleas not to call the virus by its place of origin, the province of Wuhan in China, political leaders, including President Trump, routinely referred to COVID-19 as the ‘China’ or ‘Wuhan’ virus, or ‘Kong Flu’. The organization Stop AAPI Hate received reports of nearly 3,292 hate incidents during the first year of the pandemic, the majority of them directed at women, as well as a trend of violence targeting elders. The most tragic incident of anti-Asian violence occurred in Atlanta, GA on March 16, 2021. A series of mass shootings by a 21 year old white-American man led to the murder of eight individuals: Delaina Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Sun Cha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue. Six of the deceased were Asian-American women. The Asian-American community, and all people of conscience in the U.S., continue to reel in the magnitude of this horrific violence.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the pandemic enters its second year, it’s imperative that we learn not only from the public health mistakes of 2020, but from the social mistakes and capricious policies that further burdened our immigrant neighbors. While the federal government under Trump shirked its responsibility to protect immigrants, organizations and grassroots activists throughout the country mobilized to provide immediate support for those in detention. We were moved by the courageous mutual-aid networks that emerged around the country to address the gaping holes in our social welfare system. National campaigns including #ImmigrantsAreEssential and #FreeThemAll mobilized to amplify the special hardships of immigrants and demand care for all.
Subsequent stimulus packages in December 2020 and March 2021 included more provisions for economic relief for immigrants and mixed status families, in addition to greater investment in overall social safety protections. In his first week as president, Biden issued an executive order condemning xenophobic attacks against AAPI. While discrimination against these communities continue, community lead initiatives have developed to safely escort residents in public, support AAPI businesses, and combat misinformation about AAPI communities and COVID-19.
Once more, people across the nation have stepped-up to defend the rights of their neighbors. Acts like these remind us that getting through this pandemic requires not only adherence to public safety measures, but the continued recognition, validation, and protection of all, regardless of immigration status or origin.
