We invite you to contribute to a campaign to assist undocumented members of our community at https://www.gofundme.com/f/covid19-fund-for-flagstaff-immigrants.
These are long-time residents who’ve been working here, paying taxes, raising families, and volunteering in our community — often for many decades. Yet they were specifically excluded from federal relief funding, even as many of them have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
Immigrants have long held low-wage jobs in Flagstaff restaurants, hotels, cleaning services, and construction. And many have already been laid off in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Although undocumented workers are vital to our economic and community well-being, most are systemically excluded from safety-net programs like unemployment insurance and other public benefits. And despite paying into our tax system just like the rest of us, most will not receive a dollar of support from the COVID-19 federal relief program. This is a huge injustice!