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Rebeca: It's The Takeaway. I'm Rebeca Ibarra, host of WNYC and NPRs Consider This, in for Tanzina Vega. Tanzina is back with you tomorrow. Good to be with you today.

Audio clip: [crowd protesting]

Rebeca: This month, lawmakers in New York state approved a historic $2.1 billion, that's billion with a B, relief fund for undocumented workers and others with non-traditional jobs that have been shut out from government relief. The Excluded Workers Fund, as it's being called, was established as part of New York state budgets negotiations.

It's the most expensive fund of its kind in the US and will provide much-needed relief for nearly 300,000 people who've been excluded from both state and federal assistance like stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, because of their immigration status. Undocumented workers are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the new relief fund, they can receive up to $15,600 if they're able to prove their New York residency and loss of income among other things.

The creation of the Excluded Workers Fund follows weeks of protests, demanding lawmakers to include relief for undocumented workers in the New York state budget, including a three-week hunger strike in Manhattan.

Audio clip: [crowd protesting]

Rebeca: Will New York be the exception to the rule, or could we see pandemic relief for undocumented workers in other States next? Let's talk about it. For more on this. We're joined now by Emerita Torres, vice president of policy, research and advocacy at the Community Service Society of New York. Emerita, welcome to the show.

Emerita Torres: Thank you so much for having me, Rebeca.

Rebeca: Also with us is Josefa Velasquez, senior reporter for THE CITY, a non-profit news organization based in New York City. Josefa, thanks for joining us.

Josefa Velasquez: Hey Rebeca, thanks for having me on.

Rebeca: Josefa, let's start with you. How significant is New York's Excluded Workers Fund?

Josefa: It's huge. Compare it to California, which had a fund created last year. California's Disaster Relief Fund for undocumented individuals was only $125 million. Here we're talking about a program that is $2.1 billion with a B, where undocumented and excluded workers who didn't qualify for the federal financial assistance or state benefits, are going to be able to really tap into this pool of money. It's the first program of its kind in the state and federally.

Rebeca: Josefa, remind us of the toll the pandemic took on New York's undocumented population.

Josefa: When the pandemic began at this point a year ago, a lot of people lost their jobs. Fortunately there were some safety net systems in place, but not for undocumented workers. At one point, experts estimated that more than half of the city's immigrants were unemployed and unable to tap into unemployment benefits or get any federal stimulus payments. I think as you had mentioned, we could be seeing up to 300,000 New Yorkers who [unintelligible 00:03:42] be eligible for this type of aid. That is a tremendous number of people that might be getting resources for the first-time in the last year.

Rebeca: Emerita, let's get more specific. Who are the people who will most benefit from this fund?

Emerita: This fund is going to support undocumented workers and non-traditional workers who haven't received a dime in federal state aid. As you mentioned these are drivers, domestic workers, street vendors, caregivers, car mechanics, and those who have really been unseen in our economy, but who are the hardest working and have really taken a hit throughout this pandemic. 54% of immigrants are essential workers, so they've been holding down, really, the fort of the economy in New York for some time.

Rebeca: Emerita, this isn't just for undocumented people, but for other low-income people left out of relief packages, right?

Emerita: That's correct, so other non-traditional workers as well. One thing to note is that at the last minute during the budget negotiations, there was a lot of discussion about including formerly incarcerated individuals, of which there are about 40,000 in New York. However, that was actually cut out of the Excluded Workers Funds. That's unfortunate because formerly incarcerated individuals have been left now with dismal employment prospects as the state battles out through the pandemic related recession.

Rebeca: Josefa, how exactly did this fund get established? Was it something that was being pushed for last year or is this more recent?

Josefa: It's more recent. When the legislative session started in January, there had been a push to create a $3.5 billion Excluded Workers Fund, but it's hard to sell that to a legislature where people represent a variety of areas of New York as a standalone proposal, so it got baked into the state's $212 billion budget.

The reason it's important to have it in there is because the state budget has something for everyone, so while you might not be supportive of the Excluded Workers Fund in particular, there might be something else in the state's budget that benefits your constituents or your district. It makes it more palatable when it's tucked away into this massive financial plan.

Rebeca: Josefa, how effective, based on your reporting, were the recent hunger strikes in getting lawmakers to create this fund, in pushing them to do this?

Josefa: It definitely added focus to this measure. I think it was a couple of things. The hunger strike certainly, and the amount of press that got, but also the change in the legislature overall, which has been a long time coming. You suddenly have this year a super majority in both chambers, so not only do you have enough Democrats to pass more progressive measures, you have enough people that if the governor were to veto it, they can override that veto. But also a new wave of more progressive lawmakers who are willing to push for these measures that maybe last year they wouldn't have done so.

Rebeca: Emerita, the New York fund creates a two-tier system that will pay out different amounts to those who are eligible. Why is that important? And maybe explain a little bit about these two different payments.

Emerita: Sure. The fund targets, in terms of a timeframe, between March 2020 and April 2021, so 13 months. 13 months where excluded workers didn't receive a dime of aid. If you're in tier one, for example, you would have to show a sizable amount of documentation. For example, proof that you file taxes, proof of an individual, or showing an individual tax ID number, proof of residency. You can also provide a letter from an employer to show that you had a loss of income, and in doing that, you could get upwards of $15,600.

This is a huge figure. It's roughly equivalent to employment insurance. It would be retroactive, so again, you would get payments from back from March, 2020. Tier two is where an undocumented or excluded worker would provide less documentation. It doesn't have a tax ID number or other forms of documentation. It means less money, so it would be around $3,200, which is equivalent to around three rounds of stimulus checks that they would have received. You'd have to prove, for example, your residency, your identity, and some kind of alternative proof of eligibility.

This was a big deal during negotiations. It's hard for excluded workers to provide proof of income. For example, if you're working shelving at a bodega, if you are a car mechanic, or an assistant to a car mechanic. You don't have pay stubs, you don't have bank accounts. This was a really critical issue during the budget negotiations.

Rebeca: Emerita, because many of the people who qualify are undocumented, are there safeguards in place to protect any documentation or records they submit from ICE or customs and border protection?

Emerita: According to Immigrant and Customs Enforcement, can they get your documents? The law specifically states that any person or entity who receives or has access to records that certify information, will not be used for civil immigration purposes. It's a violation. It's a class A misdemeanor. However, it is a concern for many undocumented workers. We've seen the rhetoric and the actions of the former administration, the Trump administration, so this is going to be a real factor in undocumented excluded workers providing this documentation. It's going to be really important to do outreach and to make sure that workers are comfortable providing this information.

Rebeca: Josefa, a key part of this will be how these funds are actually distributed and administered. Do we know what that looks like, and what should people know in order to apply for these funds? How can they do it?

Josefa: While there's a lot of information of what you may need, there's still a giant question mark in place, because it's going to be up to the state's Department of Labor to come up with the process. We're talking about the application and any additional documents that they might want to add to the qualifying documents for either tier one or tier two. It could be months before we start seeing money going out the door, but in the meantime, there are a lot of document requirements for the first tier, and this runway that they're being given before money starts being dispersed, is time where you can start putting those documentations together.

We're talking about an unexpired passport. You can go to your consulate and try to get one of those if you don't have one, or a consulate issued ID card. Any taxes that you may have filed with an ITIN in the last couple of years, bank statements or letters from employers. Those all count towards the application requirements. Like I said, it's going to be probably a couple of months until we get to see what the process is like. It's enough time though, for people to start getting everything that they might need in order to be eligible.

Rebeca: Emerita, we are running out of time, but in the 40 seconds we have left, in addition to these funds, what else do undocumented workers need as this pandemic continues on?

Emerita: One thing that the budget failed to do was it failed to offer any coverage at all for COVID-19 infected undocumented immigrants, so this is something that we have to keep in mind. The way that we're supporting excluded workers on economic stimulus, we need to do the same around health care, we need to do the same around workforce development.

There's a probability that a lot of excluded workers might be shut out of the workforce because they work in face to face industries, that may be replaced over time because of remote work and automation and the like. So it's going to be really important to support a just and equitable recovery that works for all New Yorkers, where no one is excluded.

Rebeca: Emerita Torres is the Vice President of policy research and advocacy at the Community Service Society of New York, and Josefa Velasquez is senior reporter for THE CITY. Thank you both so much for joining us.

Josefa: Thank you.

Emerita: Thank you.

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