Winning in the States Webinar Series www.winninginthestates.org - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Winning in the States

Webinar Series

www.winninginthestates.org

Winning in the States

State & Local Advocacy Responses to Covid-19 March 26, 2020

Winning in the States

Presenters

Shiu-Ming Cheer, Director of Movement Building & Strategic Partnerships, NILC Marianne Bellesorte, National Implementation Director, Family Values @ Work (FV@W) Raquel Lane-Arellano, Policy Manager, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, Policy Director, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

Winning in the States

Outline

I. Introduction/Context (2 min) II. Federal Relief Package & Immigrants (3 min)

• III. Responses at the State Level (12 min)
• Immigration Enforcement
• Paid Sick Leave & Paid Family and Medical Leave
• IV. Case Studies from the States (15 min)
• Colorado
• Tennessee

V. Resources and Q&A (10-15 min)

COVID 19 Context

• Pandemic has revealed structural

weaknesses/it is time to take care of all of us

• Interconnectedness of all,

including immigrants

• Everyone must have access for all
• f us to be healthy

Winning in the States

Federal Relief Package

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Senate Covid-19 3.0 Package

• Immigrant-Related Issues
• Medicaid for testing & treatment regardless of status
• Not included
• Rebate fixes (ITINs)
• Not included, except for households w/ military members
• Extensions for work permits including DACA/TPS holders
• Not included
• DHS ability to transfer money
• Successfully blocked DHS money transfer
• Additional money to ICE/CBP
• Successfully blocked additional money

Winning in the States

Winning in the States

Immigration Enforcement

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Continued Enforcement & Demands

• ICE arrests/raids
• I-9 audits
• People in detention & guards

testing positive Winning in the States Demands

• Release of all people currently detained in ICE

custody

• Cease all local enforcement operations
• Eliminate ICE check-ins and mandatory court

appearances

• Make phone and video calls free for people

connecting with their loved ones

• Ensure all facilities where people are detained in

ICE custody, be it county jails or dedicated facilities, are prioritizing the health and well- being of people detained

• (often in conjunction with de-carceral &

decriminalization demands)

Response

• Letters to DHS/ICE
• Pressuring elected officials
• Organizational statements
• Legal action
• Habeas petitions
• Individual requests for release
• Litigation
• Direct actions
• Connecting to de-carceral asks (jails,

arrests, probation, etc.)

Winning in the States

Protecting Immigrant Workers: The Role of Paid Sick Days & Paid Family and Medical Leave

familyvaluesatwork.org Marianne Bellesorte, National Implementation Director, Family Values @ Work

What’s in a name?

Paid Sick and Safe Days Parental Leave FMLA/ Paid Family and Medical Leave

familyvaluesatwork.org Winning in the States

Why is leave important?

Important to everyone

• Workers can’t afford to provide

care without leave

• 2.7 days out of work = 1

month of groceries

• 7.5 days out of work = 1

month of rent

Important to immigrant workers

• Immigrant workers have less

access to sick days/paid leave, especially if there is no local law

• But – where there are local laws

– they may have more access

Winning in the States familyvaluesatwork.org

What does existing leave look like for immigrant workers?

Paid Family and Medical Leave/ Temporary Disability Leave

• In general
• leave programs are run by the state.
• If you pay into the system, you should

be able to use the benefits

• In practice
• some states make it easy to use
• others require SSN/ ITIN/

documentation

Paid Sick and Safe Days

• In general - sick days are paid by

employers, so usually no government involvement

• In practice
• some localities do specific outreach to

immigrant communities

• it‘s possible to run into problems if

workers need to make a complaint

Winning in the States familyvaluesatwork.org

Who has leave right now? What does it look like to pass these laws?

Winning in the States familyvaluesatwork.org

What can happen when we expand and enforce laws?

Some specifics…many more out there

Chicago Paid Sick Days

• “Employees are not required

to provide, and the City will not request, information regarding the immigration status of any person filing a complaint.”

New Jersey Earned Sick Leave

• “Earned Sick Leave, like all NJ

wage and hour laws, applies to all NJ workers, regardless

• f documentation status.”

New York City Paid Safe and Sick Leave

• “DCA will answer employee

questions and process sick leave complaints without regard to immigration status. An employee is entitled to the protections of the Paid Sick Leave Law regardless of immigration status.”

familyvaluesatwork.org Winning in the States

What do paid family leave laws say about access for undocumented workers?

Temporary Disability Insurance/ Paid Family Leave California Eligible as long as you are working in CA and have State Disability Wages withheld Connecticut

• District of Columbia

Need to submit SSN or ITIN to apply Massachusetts

• New Jersey

Need to submit SSN to apply New York Providing SSN is voluntary, but the request for it is on the forms Oregon Not in effect yet, but news reports at signing say undocumented workers can take time Rhode Island Need to submit SSN to apply Washington Multiple forms of ID acceptable, including no ID, but request for SSN is on the forms

familyvaluesatwork.org Winning in the States

Working together

• Family Values @ Work is collaborating with a number of state and

national groups on implementing paid time and paid leave under COVID – would love to work with you too

• Know Your Rights
• Microsite
• Sequencing of laws – how new laws work with existing, what to use first
• Marianne@familyvaluesatwork.org
• 484-362-9623

Winning in the States

Case Study: Colorado

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COLORADO COVID ID RESPONSE

• Legislative Pivot to Governor Response
• Progressive Coalition Demands
• Financial Support for Undocumented Families

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Colorado COVID Response

• Immigration Demands to the Governor
• Sign bill to prohibit ICE courthouse arrests
• Executive Order for Data Privacy
• Issue Statement Against ICE Enforcement
• Equal access to resources for everyone
• Separate letter addressing GEO and detention concerns

Letter from CIRC to Governor Jared Polis - Demands on behalf of immigrants: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VPN0- yWTapH6N4VM2GJ2qicY7RJlBypb/view?usp=sharing

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• Progressive organizational demands letter
• Health equity
• Moratorium on Evictions, Foreclosures, & Utility Shut Offs
• Access to Paid Family Leave
• Employee protections & benefits
• Resource access
• Halting ICE activity & granting humanitarian parole from GEO
• Protecting unhoused communities

Colorado COVID Response

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• Financial Support for Undocumented Families
• Philanthropic interest in donating
• Navigating legalities and logistics to provide direct funding to

families

• Moving the conversation – this should be the role of

Government

• Building structure for future or prolonged crisis

Colorado Rapid Response Network: Undocumented Denverites could be worst hit by COVID-19 shutdowns.

Colorado COVID Response

Winning in the States

Case Study: Tennessee

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Winning in the States

Case Study: Tennessee

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Tennessee

• List of demands for federal, state, and local elected officials
• including health, economic, language access, and immigration
• Gathering cases and developing advocacy and communications strategies and highlighting need

for inclusive and equitable policies

• Coordinating with unions and other justice groups statewide but also in 3 major cities to set up

local tables to suspend preemption laws and advance local policies

• Compiling and developing community resources
• related to health, unemployment, immigraiton, and more!
• Working with organizers to ensure information is widely disseminated across TN
• driving calling and reporting to our assistance line

https://www.tnimmigrant.org/the-health-strength-of-our-communities https://www.tnimmigrant.org/health

Winning in the States

Winning in the States

Resources

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) resources COVID-19 Multistate Policy Tracker https://www.multistate.us/pages/covid-19-policy-tracker Detention Watch Network’s COVID-19 webpage. Health

• Economic Policy Institute (EPI)’s Working Economics Blog The coronavirus pandemic requires state and local

policymakers to act, in addition to demanding a strong federal response

• You Have Rights: Protect Your Health - Going to the Doctor (translations available on the Know Your

Rights webpage)

• NILC’s Update on Access to Health Care Immigrants and Their Families

Workers’ Rights

• The Worker’s Guide: Your Rights During COVID-19
• La guía del trabajador: Sus derechos durante el COVID-19

Winning in the States

Q&A

www.winninginthestates.org

Winning in the States

Shiu-Ming Cheer, cheer@nilc.org Marianne Bellesorte, marianne@familyvaluesatwork.org Raquel Lane-Arellano, raquel@coloradoimmigrant.org Lisa Sherman-Nikolaus, lisa@tnimmigrant.org