Immigrant Rights Advocates Blast NJ For ‘Raiding’ COVID Fund

Eric Kiefer
Updated ·9 min read

NEW JERSEY — A federal fund meant to help “excluded” New Jersey residents amid the coronavirus pandemic is out $34 million, and a rising chorus of immigration advocates and Latino lawmakers are demanding to know what happened.

For more than a year and a half, hundreds of thousands of immigrants in New Jersey have been left behind while their neighbors get much-needed financial aid to help them get through the coronavirus crisis, including stimulus checks and unemployment assistance.

All the while, advocates pushed lawmakers to carve out a fund that would help ease the burden for Garden State residents who slipped between the cracks. Their efforts seemed to be rewarded in the fall of 2021, when the New Jersey Department of Human Services launched the Excluded New Jerseyans Fund. Eligible households were initially able to get a one-time payment of up to $1,000 per person, with a maximum of $2,000 per household, an amount that was eventually doubled.

But only about $6 million out of $40 million had been distributed to about 2,600 applicants by Dec. 30, the deadline to use the federal COVID relief money that powered the fund, Gothamist.com reported. Read the full article here.

The remaining $34 million? It was re-appropriated to state expenses at the New Jersey Department of Human Services that included payroll and other departmental costs incurred during the pandemic, the governor’s office said.

Since learning of the money shift, a chorus of advocates and lawmakers have been demanding that a spotlight be put on the situation.

New Jersey’s Legislative Latino Caucus issued the following statement on Friday:

“We are greatly disappointed by this poor stewardship of resources that were designed to lift up those in some of our most under-served communities. How something like this could happen, in a time when New Jersey’s families are already facing unparalleled hardship due to the pandemic, is beyond comprehension. We found out about this issue at the same time as the rest of the public. At this time, we are doing our due diligence to find a pathway forward, and implore the administration to work with the Latino Caucus to find an immediate remedy to this problem. Thousands of workers continue to struggle in the wake of the pandemic. We cannot allow this mishandling of relief monies to come at the expense of those who need it.”

The caucus includes senators Nellie Pou, M. Teresa Ruiz and Nilsa Cruz-Perez, as well as Assembly members Gabriela Mosquera, Yvonne Lopez, Annette Quijano, Eliana Pintor-Marin, Angelica M. Jimenez, Pedro Mejia and Annette Chaparro.

On Wednesday, 15 speakers from a coalition of community leaders, organizations and advocates gathered for a virtual press conference, blasting the $34 million diversion and demanding that the fund be replenished.

New Jersey’s original $40 million program paled in comparison to neighboring New York’s $2.1 billion fund, advocates said, alleging that the application process was convoluted and the program was “set up for failure” from the start.

Felix Gallardo, who identified himself as an “immigrant essential worker,” said he toiled in the food industry during the worst months of the pandemic – all knowing it was for a good cause. But when he caught COVID-19 at his workplace and wasn’t able to go to work, he didn’t get a penny in unemployment or a single stimulus payment – despite paying taxes for 25 years.

According to some reports, New Jersey's undocumented immigrants pay $1.1. billion in federal taxes and $600 million in state and local taxes annually, and have contributed $1.3 billion to the unemployment insurance fund over the past 10 years.

“That’s why I joined a hunger strike to win the first Excluded New Jerseyan Fund,” recalled Gallardo, a member of Make the Road New Jersey.

Gallardo said he has applied to the fund, but still hasn’t been accepted.

“It’s been months of going back and forth on documentation,” Gallardo said. “My son and I desperately need support and so do hundreds of thousands of people across our state.”

Other advocates and community leaders who protested the reallocation of funds include:

Tiburcio Cuautle, a member of Cosecha New Jersey – “I feel very bad about this news that we have just been given, they have cut off economic relief for immigrant families in New Jersey. Once again they exclude us, they have left us out of the help that the Governor promised before and during his re-election campaign for our immigrant community. Once again, the politicians and the governor play their tricks and deceive us. We are essential workers but they treat us as disposable. They have sabotaged this economic relief process from the beginning so that it fails. It's not fair, it's a mockery to my working community! Economic justice now!”

Itzel Hernandez, Immigrant Rights Organizer for the American Friends Service Committee – “$16 million dollars of relief is an insult to our communities. The pandemic has not ended, in fact, it continues to claim the lives of our friends, families and loved ones every day. The governor promised $40 million in funding, and his word must be worth something. It is shameful and a stain on the Murphy administration to continue to deny recovery for all.”

Reynalda Cruz, Organizer with New Labor – “We are disappointed and feel deceived by our state and Governor Murphy. It was a long struggle just to get the fund going for New Jersey workers excluded from federal economic relief support. The pandemic has left us economically and mentally destabilized. To say that the $40 million that was set aside for excluded workers would be largely taken away is an insult and lack of respect for workers who are still excluded almost two years into the pandemic. We call on the Governor to return all of the funds to the Excluded New Jerseyan Fund for excluded New Jersey workers, an improved and streamlined application system, and funding streams for organizations that value the important work of outreach and follow up.”

Diana Mejia with Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center – “Our communities were already excluded, and continued to be excluded, despite the fund. The amount of documents required was a lack of understanding and compassion for our immigrant workers. Much of our community does not know how to use a computer, how to fill out the application, nor upload documents. These are major barriers for our community to be able to apply. Those who need help the most were excluded due to these barriers. Nevertheless, we encourage our immigrant community, our essential workers, to not be intimidated by these requirements and make sure to continue to apply.”

The Rev. Carmine Pernini with Zion Lutheran Evangelical Church in Rahway, Faith in New Jersey Board Member – “It is extremely disheartening and infuriating to read a headline which, on the one hand, promised funds to those people excluded from stimulus checks - undocumented families and people returning from the criminal (in)justice system - and unemployment, and on the other hand read that it was just that, a headline or political grandstanding where words and actions do not align. It makes absolutely no sense to make an application process so complicated so as to discourage those in need from gaining access to relief funds. Sure, the government will say the provisions are to make sure the funds go in the hands of the worthy, of course this I say while averting my eyes from the many 'passes' which are given to the affluent in the form of tax advantages and preferential treatment often granted with a handshake and a wink, but to punish the 'least of these (Matthew 25)’ with excess documentation and standards which make the process impossible to complete fits well within many governmental "relief" programs. Of course, as if planned from the beginning, the funds head right back into the pockets of those who promised them and their agencies and projects. Following Christ's example, generosity should be gratuitous and flow from the bottom up to those most in need and not the other way around.”

Nicole Rodriguez, Research Director at New Jersey Policy Perspective – “It’s no secret that New Jersey’s immigrant families were among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Providing pandemic relief to these families is not only the moral thing to do, but the best policy decision a state can make. Immigrants are an integral part of New Jersey’s vibrant communities and local economies. Simply put, when immigrants do better we all do better — and New Jersey’s pandemic response should reflect that reality.”

Amy Torres with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice – “From the first day that the Trump administration’s federal stimulus checks excluded our communities, we advocated for a robust State response that would fill the gap and provide the relief our communities deserve. Immigrants and people of color were disproportionately affected by the pandemic because of deep structural inequities that deny our communities access and protection. The refusal to seriously meet the demands of this coalition, even when we’ve remained at the table in good faith since the start of the Excluded New Jerseyans Fund, is an insult to our communities and perpetuates the same harmful inequities that wrought these harms in the first place. We stand in strong solidarity with this coalition to demand $1 billion in aid and to integrate the community’s feedback on application improvements that will make this fund truly accessible to everyone who is eligible for it.”

Kevin Brown, Executive Vice President and NJ State Director of 32BJ – “We campaigned tirelessly for all those excluded from the federal stimulus to receive this assistance. Unfortunately, the application process was not only difficult, but impossible to access by our non-English speakers. We encourage the Governor’s office to reinstate these funds, fully fund the program, and ensure the systems in place are effective and user-friendly to our members.”

The coalition of organizations pushing for relief includes: ACLU of New Jersey, American Friends Service Committee, Casa Freehold, CATA, Cosecha, Faith in New Jersey, Laundry Workers Center, Latino Action Network, Make the Road New Jersey, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, National Domestic Workers Alliance, New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, New Jersey Citizen Action, New Jersey Policy Perspective, New Labor, SEIU 32BJ, Unidad Latina en Accion NJ and Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.

Send news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

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This article originally appeared on the Newark Patch