Demand health, human and civil rights protections for migrant communities in the wake of Covid-19!

As the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic worsens by the day, we are deeply concerned for migrant communities in the U.S. and across the globe who are further endangered by draconian policies and enforcement practices that threaten community health and exacerbate the consequences of this crisis on immigrant families.

NNIRR has co-sponsored a joint petition calling on ICE to suspend ALL immigration enforcement activities to ensure immigrants feel safe to seek medical care during the coronavirus epidemic. 

Read the full petition and sign here.

While many of us are sheltering in place, we must speak up for people in migration who are in particularly vulnerable situations — migrants and asylum seekers, many at the U.S. Mexico border living in migrant shelters and camps; undocumented families who are afraid to seek medical care and services; and people held in detention centers where inhumane treatment and substandard conditions for health and safety leave an open door for the rapid spread of Coronavirus.

Please sign on today! This petition dovetails with our earlier demands to suspend immigration enforcement during Census 2020. The Census is in additional jeopardy due to the Coronavirus crisis. If participation is curtailed, we know this will skew data and undermine commitments for federal funding and political representation for the decade to come. With conditions changing so suddenly, the Census is one of the many major activities that have been affected that will potentially have grave consequences for democracy and long-term community health and safety.

If you have not already done so, please sign-on to the call to suspend enforcement during the Census 2020: If you represent an organization, sign this letter.  Individuals may sign this petition.

During the Coronavirus crisis, there is even more cause to suspend immigration enforcement so that ALL immigrants can safely access testing and medical care without fear of detention and deportation.

Meanwhile, to provide information and calls to action in one place, NNIRR has created a resource section on our website to provide reliable community education and advocacy for immigrant community health during the Coronavirus epidemic. We will add to the resource page as information becomes available. Please contribute by emailing us at: jferrigno@nnirr.org if you have information to share.

There are so many issues that demand our attention at this moment; we are reminded that in times of crisis, many in immigrant communities find themselves in even more vulnerable situations even as they share the same dangers as the general public. Unfortunately, in such times immigrants’ human rights are too often ignored or violated.  But we can all be inspired by the support and solidarity with, and daily resilience of immigrant communities.

During this time we need your support more than ever. Please consider giving to NNIRR today with a donation of any kind — just $5 or $10 from each of you would go a long way toward helping us effectively advocate for human rights and justice.

We thank you for your support, solidarity and friendship! Stay safe!    

~ NNIRR