LULAC calls for comprehensive Pandemic Response Plan

Latino communities and all communities of color in the U.S. are being affected disproportionately by the spread of coronavirus. How the government responds will impact the Latino community for years to come and set a precedent for how the U.S Government responds during times of crisis and how it deals with the exigent needs of underserved communities of color.

LULAC is calling for a Pandemic Response Plan which includes the following:

  1. Federal and Local government to collect and report on ethnic data.
  2. All critical information resources be provided in English and Spanish immediately to the public.
  3. Provide undocumented immigrants working as healthcare practitioners, technical occupations in the medical field, and essential workers, immediate temporary protective status with a pathway for citizenship by the end of 2020.
  4. Latino participation in medical trials for COVID-19 vaccine as Latinos are under represented in most trials.
  5. Access to emergency paid sick leave, expanded unemployment insurance and equal access to COVID-19 testing and treatment.
  6. Congress must make sure our children don’t go hungry, have the resources they need for home schooling (including access to computers and internet access), and are not left out on the street.
  7. Support for agriculture workers and demand OSHA implement strict work safety requirements and ensure workers have adequate personal protection equipment.
  8. Supporting expanded unemployment benefits for all workers, including undocumented workers.
  9. Proper funding of the SBA Disaster Relief Program and PPP program while ensuring that Latino-owned businesses are not left out of the stimulus program.
  10. Congress must adopt a minimum requirement in stimulus funding, as it does in its GSA Minority contracting, of at least 10% to minority / disadvantaged businesses.
  11. ICE should release all minor detainees immediately without discretion.
  12. ICE should release (on parole) all detainees who are older than 50, pregnant, or who have underlying conditions (weakened immune system, heart or lung disease). Those in detention who are especially vulnerable to contagious outbreaks should be released immediately.
  13. ICE must stop all enforcement action and deportations including transport of minor detainees between detentions centers across the country.
  14. Pharmaceutical and health insurance companies to waive or lower the costs and suspend co-pays for life-saving medicines and prescriptions.
  15. Moratorium on mortgage, rent, student loans, credit card, and foreclosures without penalties.

Download the COVID-19 Latino Impact Report to learn more about how Latinos are impacted by the COVID-19 and government response to the crisis.