Major Latino Organizations Engage Nearly 200,000 NJ Voters of Color to Highlight Urgent Need for COVID Relief

Groups Urged Voters to Contact Gov. Murphy, Legislature to Extend  COVID Aid to Immigrants Left Behind from Relief Programs 

(New Jersey – April, 2021) Today, major Latino organizations, including LUPE PAC, the Latino Action Network, UnidosUS Action Fund and Make the Road New Jersey, announced a key milestone in their non-partisan strategic partnership as they reached nearly 200,000 Latino voters and voters of color in less than a month. The partnership was announced in the wake of bombshell news reports last month that revealed that Latino men in New Jersey make up nearly half of all COVID-19 related deaths of individuals under the age of 50, even though Latino men only represent 12% of the population and are 7 times more likely to die of COVID than white men in New Jersey. Immigrant families, predominantly Latino, have been left behind from federal relief and nearly every form of COVID aid. 343,000 Latinos in New Jersey are uninsured, representing the largest percentage of uninsured of any group.

To respond, and to elevate concerns of access to aid during this election year, the coalition of organizations held phone and text banks to reach 195,000 registered Latino voters and voters of color to urge them to contact Gov. Murphy and the state legislature to push for COVID relief for immigrants.

“Latino immigrant workers that have kept our state running during the COVID crisis have been shut out from accessibility to aid and are contracting the virus and dying at alarmingly disproportionate rates. We know from our outreach to and conversations with more than 100,000 Latino voters across New Jersey that they are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of their families. We urge Gov. Murphy and the state legislature to act now to provide COVID aid to those workers and their families that have been left behind. Our families’ lives depend on it.”” said Laura Matos, President of LUPE PAC.

“Latino voters and voters of color have been clear: our communities will not be left behind from relief. We will continue to fight until everyone has access to income replacement, health care and the aid they need to survive. We urge Gov. Murphy and the state legislature to take immediate action to provide COVID relief to our communities,” said Christian Estevez, President of Latino Action Network.

“In our conversations with voters, so many shared stories of deaths in their family, of immigrant brothers and sisters being forced into dangerous situations because they could not access aid. We need access to aid now,” said Deyanira Aldana, lead organizer at Make the Road New Jersey.

“Latino immigrants in New Jersey are not political pawns: they are children, neighbors, and essential workers from our communities that deserve access to COVID-related health and economic support. It’s time for our state officials to provide this much-needed assistance to immigrants for their health and well-being,” said Rafael Collazo, the Executive Director of the UnidosUS Action Fund.