STATEMENT: Make the Road New Jersey Responds to Pandemic Relief Fund Aid for Undocumented Immigrants, Urges Investment of Public Dollars to Aid Excluded Workers and Families

(Elizabeth, NJ – July 31, 2020): In response to reports on the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund’s decision to extend cash aid to undocumented immigrants in New Jersey as legislation to provide aid to the more than half million undocumented immigrants and excluded workers and their families in NJ stalls, Make the Road New Jersey issued the following statement:

“We are grateful for the support and partnership of the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund to extend cash assistance to some undocumented immigrant families in New Jersey who have been left behind by government aid. At the same time, our communities cannot solely depend on the generosity of philanthropy to survive the pandemic. There are nearly a half million undocumented immigrants with 128,000 US citizen children who have been left behind from nearly every form of relief for more than 145 days. Can you imagine trying to survive for 145 days without a paycheck, without unemployment, without food stamps, and without a stimulus check? New Jersey must extend relief to all New Jerseyans, including $600 weekly payments for excluded workers who are jobless and stimulus payments to families excluded from federal aid. One first step is to pass S2480/A4171 – which now has 17 Senate sponsors and nearly as many in the assembly, and has been endorsed by the Star Ledger editorial board but has not yet had a single committee hearing. If our state is going to survive this pandemic, we can’t leave a half million New Jerseyans and their families behind.”