Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $125 million stimulus bill to support California's 150,000 undocumented workers. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for the federal $2.2 trillion plan, but they will receive limited funds in what is part of a $125 million dollar plan to ease the economic burden of the Coronavirus stay-at-home mandate. In his speech, Governor Newsom cited that undocumented workers were the lifeblood of the Californian economy, making up 10% of the entire workforce. $50 million in funds will be distributed through a network of nonprofit organizations and philanthropies, as well as $75 million from the state government. Private charities and non-profit philanthropies contributing $50 million for the bill include the Emerson Collective, The Blue Shield of California Foundation, the California Endowment, the James Irving Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The stimulus bill provided for undocumented workers differs largely from the federal plan, supplementing no cap on the basis of income. The plan will deliver $500 to individual workers and $1,000 for families. 

This new stimulus effort is certainly a milestone, but California is the only state that has provided any financial support for undocumented immigrants. The federal stimulus bill offers a stipend of $1,200 for citizens, with ongoing financial support. The estimated impact that the federal plan will have is to increase unemployment benefits by $600 per week. The new plan commissioned for undocumented workers offers none of these benefits and is limited to $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals. Undocumented workers serve a vital role in our national economy, especially in California. The bill offered by Gavin Newsom is not sufficient enough to provide long term support for undocumented immigrants, who will be hit the hardest by the stay-at-home mandate issued in California and across the U.S. Many undocumented immigrants on H2A and other work visas were already struggling enormously to put food on the table and this is exacerbated by the lack of work. Our undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes annually, and their taxpayer dollars are paying for the federal $2.2 trillion plan that they won't receive support from. There is an immense double standard that undocumented immigrants are expected to pay taxes but are ineligible for the support networks that their taxpayer money funds. 

Immigrant farmworkers are the people who are growing and harvesting America's food. The next time someone tries to claim that undocumented workers are a threat to our national economy, remind them that they and Americans all-throughout, quite literally benefit from the fruit of their labor. People like our president, who are xenophobic and anti-immigration, would hardly stand to endure the same kind of work that undocumented immigrants perform on a daily basis. Thus said, America, if anything, benefits from illegal immigration, so criminalizing immigrants and locking them in cages is only hurting our economy. Instead, we need to find a way to integrate undocumented workers into our society and provide the same support to them that we do for our citizens. This starts with offering a comprehensive federal relief package for undocumented citizens. 
I firmly believe that we need to create a federal stimulus bill for undocumented workers across the U.S that offers the same financial provisions as the federal bill offered to citizens. The bill should offer increased unemployment benefits and should deliver a stipend check of $1,200, identical to the $2.2 trillion stimulus plan. Our economy relies on the work and taxpayer money of undocumented laborers. By not offering a stimulus check on a national scale to the two million undocumented immigrants in our country, we are exploiting their labor and contributions to society.

To address the horrible jeopardy that small businesses and hospitals face, there needs to be a federal small-businesses stimulus plan as well as a federal stimulus plan for hospitals to restock with the supplies and amenities that they need. A recent effort in the senate was made to reach an agreement about a stimulus plan for small businesses, but Mitch McConnell was more interested in starting a political brawl with the democrats than actually reaching a consensus. The Senate needs to work together in a bipartisan effort to support small businesses. Right now, there is no time for parties to be polarized based on political affiliation. The economy is crumbling at our feet and we need for our senators to collaborate on creating stimulus plans to address the economic collapse being felt throughout the country.

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