After U.S. Senate Votes to Deny Stimulus to Immigrant Families for Third Time, Make the Road NJ Calls on Gov. Murphy, State Legislature to Pass COVID Aid for All 

A Half Million Undocumented Immigrants in NJ and Their 168,000 Children Have Been Left Behind from All Relief for 10 Months

Elizabeth, NJ – February  2021: On behalf of the members of the immigrant rights organization Make the Road New Jersey, member leader Yesenia Moreno issued the following statement responding to today’s vote in the U.S. Senate to exclude immigrant families from the stimulus relief under the next COVID relief package:

“I am outraged that the U.S. Senate voted to exclude immigrant families like my own from the next stimulus package and I call on Governor Murphy and the state legislature to take steps to provide COVID relief to excluded workers like myself. For ten months, we have tried to survive without unemployment, stimulus checks or any aid, despite having contributed billions to the unemployment system. We are the essential workers that clean and prepare food so the rest of the state can shelter in place but when we lose our jobs, we cannot put food on the table for our children. Congress has failed us too many times. It’s time for Gov. Murphy and the state legislature to act.”

A half million undocumented immigrants and their 168,000 children in New Jersey have been left behind from nearly every form of relief. Despite widespread, bipartisan support, legislation in New Jersey to provide one-time payments to undocumented immigrants and their families did not advance this past session.