A new report from McKinsey & Company examines how U.S. Hispanic and Latino populations have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that they are three times more likely than their white counterparts to test positive for the virus, while still struggling at a greater rate with challenges like chronic health conditions and lack of health insurance.

Moreover, the analysis “shows that about 50 percent of revenue of Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses is in the hardest-hit sectors, including leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and construction. Since Hispanic- and Latino-owned businesses are disproportionately small and already more likely to be at risk or distressed, their overrepresentation in places that are more likely to struggle to resume normal economic operations make these businesses even more vulnerable.”

The report calls for new partnership between the public, private and social sectors to help provide health and financial resources to the community, noting that “the country’s long-term recovery is inextricable from the recovery of Hispanic and Latino families, communities, and businesses.”

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

19TH DEATH – A 50-year-old man from Honduras died in a Texas hospital after being exposed to COVID-19 at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Joe Corley Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, Hamed Aleaziz reports for BuzzFeed News. “The man is the 19th detainee to die in ICE custody during the 2020 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30. The total number of ICE deaths so far this fiscal year is the highest total since 2006, when 19 immigrants died, according to ICE records.” Aleaziz reminds us that as of August 27, “more than 800 ICE detainees had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 5,000 had contracted the disease while in custody.”

LAW ENFORCEMENT – Wisconsin state Reps. Dave Steffen and John Macco, both Republicans, are introducing legislation to allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to become police officers, Kia Murray with FOX 11 News reports. “Unfortunately, Wisconsin state law says in order to be a deputy sheriff or a municipal officer that takes an oath in office, you have to be a U.S. citizen,” said Jose Del Rio, a community service officer and DACA recipient who has lived in Green Bay since elementary school and wants to be a police officer. “If we can get that change here and have people that look just like me, people that look just like the community, whatever race you are that we can bring in our police force, I think that would be amazing.” As the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force has pointed out, citizenship requirements also prevent lawful permanent residents from becoming officers.

PAST DUE – Advocates are calling for decorated World War I hero Marcelino Serna to be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, making the case that racism and xenophobia previously prevented the Texan soldier from receiving the military’s highest honor, Suzanne Gamboa reports for NBC. “‘It clearly appears Private Marcelino Serna did not receive the Medal of Honor due to him being a Mexican American and an immigrant,’ Lawrence Romo, national commander of the American GI Forum, a civil rights organization and federally chartered veterans group, wrote to the Army.” While there have been efforts since the mid-1990s to properly recognize Serna, it could finally become a reality with a recent Congressional order for a reexamination of the records of Latino, Black, Asian, Native American and Jewish WWI soldiers.

RELIEF IN NEVADA – The Esperanza Fund, a new COVID-19 economic relief fund, launched this week in partnership with the Nevada Governor’s Office for New Americans to help immigrants in Nevada who have been denied federal aid. Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez writes for the Nevada Independent that the fund “has already granted nearly a quarter of a million dollars to community organizations … 12 organizations have been granted enough funding to give up to $300 in payments to immigrant families for basic needs such as rent payments, grocery bills and prescriptions, with additional grants expected to be made.”

REFUGEE AT HOME – British sports announcer and former soccer star Gary Lineker has announced he will be welcoming a refugee to live in his home though the “Refugees at Home” charity program. In an interview with Jason Beattie for the Daily Mirror, he explains: “I just think we owe a lot to ¬refugees, and most people are descended from refugees at some point. They have given so much to this country and still continue to do so in terms of the jobs they do which we have witnessed during the pandemic in the [National Health Service], carers and key workers.”

ONLY IN AMERICA – For the latest episode in our “Only in America” series on racial justice and immigration, I spoke to Alan Cross, lead pastor at the Petaluma Valley Baptist Church in northern California and author of “When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus.” Alan, who was raised in Mississippi and has preached in churches across the South, spoke with me about the region’s complicated history, how his faith informs his immigration advocacy, and the role of Christians in fighting for justice. (If you listen to Only in America, please take a moment to fill out our quick listener survey — we’d love to hear your thoughts.)

Thanks for reading,

Ali