History teaches us that in moments of crisis— including viral pandemics— some in society will push to demonize the “other.” After the devastation wrought by the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, nativism prevailed when Congress passed the xenophobic 1924 Immigration Act. The legislation significantly reduced immigration levels and barred outright immigrants from Asia (the Japanese were a primary target).

So when public officials call for deporting all undocumented immigrants, or leading media figures retweet white nationalists, we need to come together with one voice and stand up for immigrants.

That’s what the #AllOfUs campaign is about.

“A broad coalition of faith, civil rights, business and immigration organizations have launched a nationwide advertising to make the case that immigrants — regardless of status — are doing essential work on the front lines in the covid-19 response and recovery effort and helping keeping the nation safe and healthy,” writes David C. Adams at Univision.

And Tim Breene writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece: “As CEO of Baltimore-based World Relief, which has welcomed immigrants and refugees to the United States for over 40 years, I have seen firsthand how people come to this country not just eager to transform their own lives but eager to transform their new communities, to give, not to take. This is one of the reasons why World Relief — along with dozens of prominent faith, business, civic and immigration organizations — is participating as a founding member in the #AllofUS campaign to celebrate how immigrants and citizens are standing shoulder to shoulder in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. ”
Happy May, and welcome to Friday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].
HARDEST HIT (1/2) – Latino enclaves are being hit the hardest by COVID-19 in Oregon, Molly Harbarger reports for The Oregonian. In Washington County, half of those who have tested positive are Latino, even though Latinos make up only 16% of the county’s population. In Lane County, 22% of those with coronavirus are Latino, even though they make up only 10% of the population. Advocates and officials are pointing out that the disproportionate numbers are likely due to the overrepresentation of Latinos in essential occupations. “These residents are really the heroes that are going into high-risk situations and going into work each day, making sure our loved ones are cared for in homes or hospitals, that are making sure our food is harvested, our shelves are stocked … Just going to work is putting them at risk,” said Washington County Health and Human Services Director Marni Kuyl. Thinking of our friends at PCUN, based in hard-hit Woodburn, as they support the Oregon farmworker community.

HARDEST HIT (2/2) – Guatemalans facing deportation “are looking at two potentially dire fates:” wait in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention where social distancing is impossible, or be deported back to a country where they will be quarantined in a makeshift hospital with minimal resources, Adolfo Flores reports for BuzzFeed News. To date, there are least 99 people who tested positive for COVID-19 who have been deported. “Guatemala’s government has temporarily stopped deportation flights three times since March. The last pause, which has largely remained in place with a few exceptions for ‘humanitarian’ flights, was on April 16, after 44 deported Guatemalans on one flight tested positive for COVID-19 after being detained by ICE. Out of 995 detainees tested around the US, 449 tested positive, according to ICE.”

OTAY MESA – We’ve covered this before, but it’s worth going deeper: At the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California — which has the largest COVID-19 outbreak of any federal immigration detention facility, with 100 people testing positive so far — migrants say they are not being kept safe, report Alejandro Lazo and Zusha Elinson for The Wall Street Journal. “Detainees and their attorneys told The Wall Street Journal that ICE, which provides medical care at Otay Mesa, has mixed healthy and sick detainees together by sending symptomatic people back to their housing units while awaiting test results and not quarantining cell mates of those who test positive.” ICE responded that the health of detainees is “one of the agency’s highest priorities.” Clearly, that is not the case.

“BUT I LOVE AMERICA” – For New York’s Uber drivers — many of whom are immigrants — the COVID-19 pandemic presents myriad challenges, reports Jiayang Fan in The New Yorker. “A young Algerian driver, wearing an N95 mask that he had bought online weeks ago, when he first heard of the virus, told me, ‘I fought so hard to come here, but right now I’m basically a front-line worker in the middle of a pandemic.’” It’s an eye-opening piece, and there are some glimmers of hope. As one driver put it: “I love Afghanistan because it’s where I grew up and where my family is … But I love America because, when something happens in this country, people become united, and there is a faith that there will be life afterward. That, no matter what, the family survives.”

ADVOCATE – Whether living in conditions without soap and water or being unable to social distance, refugees and immigrants face the greatest hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, write Christy Staats and Robbie McAlister in an op-ed for Charisma News. One way for ordinary people to help: advocate. “Contact your political leaders. Refugees should not have to live in camps around the world for years or wait for a year in squalid conditions along our border before their cases are processed. Most of these people are vulnerable already, fleeing violence and persecution seeking a safe life for themselves and their families.”
Thanks for reading,

Ali