Dear Friend,

I hope you and your loves ones are staying safe and healthy. The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically affected all our lives, and refugees and immigrants in the U.S. are among the hardest hit.

Immigrants are on the frontlines of this battle, working every day to defeat the contagion and mitigate its effects. Nearly 1.7 million immigrant medical and health care workers (including 27,000 DACA recipients) are caring for COVID-19 patients. Over 700,000 immigrants work in food production, and nearly 1.5 million immigrants work in delivery, shipping, and trucking, bringing necessary items to households across the U.S. By simply going to work, they are placing themselves in harm’s way.

Refugees and immigrants are disproportionately suffering the economic and health effects of this crisis. Discrimination (especially against Asian immigrants), loss of service-industry jobs, obstacles to working or taking classes from home, and difficulty accessing health care make our immigrant neighbors especially vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the Administration continues to detain people at the border, separating them from their loved ones and leaving them highly vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious illnesses like COVID-19. Without swift intervention, immigration courts and detention centers will turn into hotbeds of illness.

USCRI is advocating on behalf of refugees and immigrants in the halls of power and providing direct assistance on the ground during this crisis. Thank you for standing with us.

Wishing you and your family health and safety.

Eskinder Negash
President and CEO

News From The Field

• Several USCRI field offices are reporting that children are unable to take classes from home because they don’t own a computer or have access to Wifi. USCRI is working with school districts, local foundations, and technology providers to ensure these needs are met and children can continue their studies.
• In order to spread the word about COVID-19 to all our clients, we have created educational videos about the virus in several different languages. (See an example in Burmese here.)
• We've started teaching English classes remotely using Zoom and WhatsApp.
• Many refugees and immigrants work in the service industry and are losing their jobs. We are helping them apply for benefits, locate food banks and other resources, and work out payment plans with landlords.
• We are providing emergency funding to our refugee resettlement partners around the country to help prevent evictions, pay utility bills, and provide necessities.

We’re doing everything we can to help families affected by this crisis. But we can’t do it without you. Please make a generous donation to USCRI’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund today.