To ensure email delivery directly to your inbox, please add
@migrationpolicy.org to your address book.

MPI Coronavirus Update

May 13, 2020

Dear John,

This week, we take a look at the millions of U.S. citizens and green-card holders who, by virtue of being members of mixed-status families, were excluded from the $1,200 pandemic relief checks Congress approved in March, offering estimates of the affected populations at U.S. and state levels. As part of its COVID-19 pandemic response, Congress in March approved the CARES Act, which provides a one-time $1,200 payment to individuals earning less than $75,000 and who filed taxes for 2018 or 2019 using a valid Social Security Number (SSN). The vast majority of unauthorized immigrants, except for those with work authorization -- such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients -- are thus excluded, including those who file taxes using an IRS-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). The CARES Act also excludes from cash payments anyone filing jointly with an ITIN filer, even if that person is a U.S. citizen or green-card holder with an SSN. Thus in families where even one member files using an ITIN, the entire family is rendered ineligible.

Check out the infographic: Mixed-Status Families Ineligible for CARES Act Federal Pandemic Stimulus Checks: www.migrationpolicy.org/content/mixed-status-families-ineligible-pandemic-stimulus-checks

For a look at affected populations in your state, get the data here: www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/datahub/State-LevelData-ImmigrantsExcludedStimulusCARESAct-FINAL.xlsx.
_________________________________________

COMMENTARY: The Rocky Road to a Mobile World after COVID-19
www.migrationpolicy.org/news/rocky-road-mobile-world-after-covid-19

Beyond life-and-death issues of testing and treatment for the coronavirus, governments are now beginning to grapple with tough questions about when -- and how -- to begin to lift some of the restrictions imposed on travel and other forms of mobility. The answers will differ from country to country, particularly as many are at different places along the COVID-19 trajectory. In a commentary out this week, we examine some of the issues officials will have to confront in seeking to safely restart travel, with health screenings and greater automation and digitization sure to be central to the wholesale rethink of border and travel processes. From "immunity passports" and closed regional mobility systems such as the "Trans-Tasman" bubble for Australia and New Zealand to the possibility of travelers paying a fee upon arrival to avoid quarantine, many concepts are under discussion.

_________________________________________

REPORT: Immigration and U.S. National Security: The State of Play Since 9/11
www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-us-national-security-since-911

The COVID-19 pandemic is just one among an array of increasingly complex security threats that must be managed by a U.S. immigration and border control system reinvented after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While the U.S. government has made important progress in shoring up weaknesses in its defenses at the nexus of immigration processes and national security, a number of critical gaps remain, as a former White House deputy national security adviser traces. And with resources and political will steered away from core national security missions in favor of immigration enforcement in recent years, the Department of Homeland Security faces key challenges in strengthening its capacity to respond to and manage the most pressing threats -- including public-health ones.

_________________________________________

HAVE YOU READ:

"For the time being, people are staying put in a way that we haven't seen in the modern era. I'm not sure we've seen this since World War II," Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, said during a recent discussion organized by Duke University's Center for International Development on the effects of the pandemic on migration in the Americas. Watch the conversation here: [link removed].

***

"What I'm hearing is more along the lines of schools not having the knowledge or resources to do what they want. It's not neglect or forgetting these students exist," MPI Senior Policy Analyst Julie Sugarman tells the Hechinger Report, discussing difficulties for English Learner students in an era of school shutdowns and remote learning: [link removed].

_________________________________________

Explore all our Coronavirus resources here: www.migrationpolicy.org/topics/coronavirus

Sign up for COVID-19 updates here: www.migrationpolicy.org/content/sign-covid19-resources
_________________________________________

The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. For more on MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org.
_________________________________________

Migration Policy Institute
Stay up to date on MPI's events and newest publications: [link removed].

Click here to unsubscribe [ [link removed] ]