California's Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to provide monetary relief to the state's undocumented immigrants, according to a recently published article.

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS IN CALIFORNIA

Many undocumented immigrants in California play essential roles in the workforce. Daranee Petsod, president of Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees, said: "In California, the undocumented constitute about 10 percent of the workforce here and they annually pay about $7 billion in taxes - local, state and federal - and yet they're left out of the federal relief."

It is expected that many of the undocumented immigrants will not receive the stimulus check because they do not have a Social Security Number, which is the primary requirement in collecting the payment. However, the exclusion of Latino and Asian families due to lack of this requirement are hitting them hard amid COVID-19.

According to a study by the Latino Politics and Policy Initiative with UCLA's Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, 56 percent of Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles County had a high risk of not qualifying the federal relief.

Moreover, most undocumented immigrants work as harvesters and farmers in American farms, they clean homes, and public spaces, they are taking care of children and the elderly. Others are now unemployed because small businesses like restaurants have temporarily shut down.

MONETARY RELIEF TO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

Immigrant advocates and lawmakers highly support the plan of Gov. Newsom for undocumented immigrants. The initiative of Newsom shows how he recognized the role of immigrants regardless of their status in the state's workforce.

Newsom announced on Wednesday that an amount of $125 million public-private Disaster Relief Fund is intended for the workers in California who do not have legal status. The application for the relief fund will start next month—a one-time cash benefit of $500 for every adult and up to $1,000 for every household.

However, the number of undocumented immigrants in the state is estimated to be around 2.2 million, and the relief fund intended for them can only cater to 150,000. Luckily, the support group Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees has raised $6 million, and their goal is to reach $50 million.

Moreover, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are asking to include the farmworkers who work to sustain the food supply in the country in the next stimulus relief package. They also requested to extend the employment authorization for those work permits that are expiring.

Rep. Tony Cárdenas, D-Calif., chairman of Bold PAC, the Hispanic Caucuses's political action committee, said: "Undocumented working and tax-paying Americans should have the basic human rights and support from the government as everyone else."

The only thing that hinders them from receiving the stimulus package is their status in the country. Despite this, several groups are filling the gap in assisting those who were not included in the payment.

One of the groups is the National Domestic Workers Alliance that raised $4 million to help domestic workers, and many of them are immigrants.

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