Immigrant advocates seek action from Governor John Carney
DELAWARE – “There are some efforts from philanthropist organizations, but at this point, it’s not enough,” said Erika Gutierrez, a member of La Colectiva de Delaware.
Immigrants in Delaware are rallying to let Governor John Carney know they’re not getting enough resources to help them make it through the coronavirus pandemic.
“There are improvements that can be done and we need to get everybody on board working together on this for serious and for real,” said Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the Safe Communities Coalition.
Community activist Erika Gutierrez tells 47ABC while many undocumented immigrants are considered essential workers they’re still being left out of federal aid.
Others are losing their jobs during the pandemic making it harder for them to stay afloat during the coronavirus crisis.
“You have to work to be able to pay rent and provide meals and take your kids to the doctor,” said Gutierrez.
In order to help out, community activists are urging the governor in a letter for the state to take action and provide a disaster relief fund for these immigrants as well as more information for non-English speakers.
“We need information, common-sense information that is community based that doesn’t have jargon in it,” said Gutierrez.
“That has language that the community can understand,” said Gutierrez.
They’re also asking the governor to provide weekly meetings with local activists so that the immigrant community can be a part of the discussion.
“We need the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources and all of them to partner and be together, so we can respond in a very strategic way,” said Charito Calvachi-Mateyko, a member of the Delaware Hispanic Commission.
And we’re told it’s these types of conversations that will help the immigrant community and the state as a whole to survive the pandemic.
“As long as we keep the conversation going, I think we are going to be able to do things right,” said Calvachi-Mateyko.
The governor is planning to meet with members of the community in the future moving forward, according to Calvachi-Mateyko.
We’re told the Safe Communities Coalition is leading this community effort. For more information about this group, click here.
