Community Engagement in times of COVID-19

Community Engagement          ⣴

    ▞                       in times             ▝

           of   COVID-19     ⣦              ⢷                        

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In contrast, many Americans will say that undocumented immigrants are a waste of resources. They might say that instead of helping them to get through this pandemic, the government should focus all of their resources on helping “their own'', and provide Americans with more money instead of handing it out to immigrants. Some Americans might think that undocumented immigrants should not be in the country in the first place, and instead of testing an essential immigrant worker, they should give Americans more health resources. While for some people this might sound right, undocumented immigrants are not here asking for a handout; they are not here to asking for food stamps and a free clinic. They are here fighting for the opportunities they were denied back home. They want a better future for themselves and their families. They want to contribute to this country. Immigrants pay a variety of taxes (sales tax, income tax, property tax, etc.), and while they pay taxes to the government, they don’t receive any benefits (Lipman, 5). Undocumented immigrants’ contributions to the social security fund are most important since Americans are having less children, meaning that future generations will make less contributions to the fund; reducing future payment benefits. 

▛ This pandemic has been very shocking for all of us. Many small businesses have been shutting down leaving a lot of employees without a job; mainly undocumented immigrants. We can all agree that immigrants are essential for the economy of this country as they do all the hard work that anybody else does not want to do, and no matter how hard the situation is, they will still do it. Despite the difficult situation of COVID-19, undocumented immigrants do not receive any support from the government since they are not citizens of the United States. Most of them are still working because they cannot afford “staying at home safely,” and they do not have any other way to obtain money to pay for the bills. We understand none of us ever imagined this type of situation where we have to stay at home as much as possible, with no school, no work, no going out and wearing masks every time we need to go out to be safe.

We all are struggling, but for those who came to this country to find a better life opportunity for them and their families, it is not fair to not receive any help all along in this pandemic.  Undocumented immigrants have done so much for this country that they should have all the support that anybody else gets. These people, those who have been the pillar of this country, deserve to feel safe as much as everybody else does during this difficult time.  ◤