Extinguishing the COVID-19 Wildfire Spreading in Undocumented Latino Community
This is the final blog in a three-part series digging into the unique needs of three distinct Latino communities: evangelical Latinos, Latino men, and undocumented Latinos.
The effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable Latino communities across the country have been immense. As of this January, Latinos accounted for “over 30% of the nation’s COVID-19 cases despite making up less than 20% of the current population.” What is even more alarming is that the total number of Latinos who have lost their lives due to COVID-19 surpassed 100,000 in April. Within the Latino community, those who are undocumented have been disproportionately impacted; their COVID-19 case rate and mortality is higher than the general Latino population.
There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and approximately 8.3 million are Latinos.
Living as an undocumented Latino immigrant in the United States was challenging enough before COVID-19.
You have to learn how to navigate a new country in a different language, constantly worrying about whether you will be deported, while trying not to raise any red flags. I was raised in a mixed-status household — some of us undocumented, others U.S. citizens. Belonging to the former group is difficult. You have established roots, raised a family, and paid taxes in the U.S., but you live a life of constant fear. If you belong to the latter group, you are lucky.
Now, add a global pandemic into the mix and there is bound to be some confusion. During COVID-19, the Latino community has faced extensive linguistic and cultural barriers. These barriers have affected their health decisions. Culturally, there is a value placed on the need to endure –“aguantar” in Spanish — to bear up, push through, and avoid complaining about daily struggles.” Adopting this type of mentality makes it difficult to admit pain and ask for help. Linguistically, in Baltimore, healthcare workers had difficulty communicating with undocumented Latinos because “even with skillful interpreters, many gestures, sentiments, and cultural nuances and expressions were lost.” A striking example is when a “patient declined discharge to the convention center (a field hospital for people who needed a lower level of care),” because he was “terrified of being sent to the ‘detention center.’”
Linguistic and cultural barriers are not the only factors affecting the undocumented Latino community during COVID-19. The reality of paycheck to paycheck created financial hardships. Lacking financial security coupled with no health insurance and a fear of piles of medical bills meant that undocumented Latinos did not always seek healthcare when treating COVID-19.
Undocumented Latinos also face unstable and crowded living conditions, which created detrimental effects during COVID-19. Having spent a lot, if not most, of their financial resources to get to America, undocumented Latinos resort to living in crowded spaces with work colleagues and/or other families. When my own family had just arrived in the U.S., we were in the same boat. We were grateful to have a place to live, even if it was just a small trailer we shared with other families. Unfortunately, being essential workers and returning to a crowded home created perfect conditions for COVID-19 to spread.
Linguistic and cultural barriers combined with lack of health insurance and crowded living conditions has resulted in COVID-19 spreading like wildfire in the Latino community. We have the ability to put out the fire by sharing better information and understanding potential roadblocks: “aguantar” mindset, fear of missing work, misinformation, and lack of trust in American institutions. We can have better messaging and convenience around vaccines. Undocumented Latinos need to know that their health matters and comes before missing a day of work. Getting employers on board for supporting the vaccine will be crucial. This can eliminate the fear of employees losing their jobs if they take one day off for vaccination.
Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, says that “the pandemic has shown how interdependent we are and that this is a time in our nation to make sure we’re taking care of everyone.” The efforts over the last few months to make the vaccines more accessible have already started to show positive results: “CDC data show that Latinos actually account for 30 percent of individuals who have initiated vaccination in the past 14 days.”
Recovery will not happen overnight and the pandemic is still ongoing, but we can continue sharing resources, increasing wages, demanding more work and housing protections, and sharing relief funds to support undocumented Latino immigrants who are still being affected by COVID-19. America’s fabric is made up of diverse individuals working together to make it what it is, including undocumented Latino immigrants.
