Working around safety net exclusions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study of rural Latinx immigrants

Informal Modes of Social Support among Residents of the Rural American West during the COVID‐19 Pandemic☆

“…While less examined, prior research suggests that Latino/as may, on average, have less access to formal government programs. This trend has been documented in the use of both routine safety net programs and certain disaster contexts (Bitler et al 2021; Young et al 2022). In cases in which Latino/a residents were unable to access formal government programs, we would also expect this population to utilize informal social systems to a greater degree.…”

“…Beyond pre-existing work requirements, federal relief funding during the pandemic was further limited by program eligibility requirements which excluded certain populations. For instance, legal status requirements restrict eligibility for certain safety net programs (Clark et al 2020;Young et al 2022), an especially important exclusion to note in the context of many rural communities which include undocumented residents (Nelson, Trautman, and Nelson 2015). Additionally, even for those who were eligible for government safety nets, program infrastructure was often overwhelmed by the sudden influx of applicants, causing delays or inability to access benefits (Bitler et al 2020a).…”

The Influence of Organizational Aspects of the U.S. Agricultural Industry and Socioeconomic and Political Conditions on Farmworkers’ COVID-19 Workplace Safety

“…Data for this study was drawn from in-depth semi-structured phone interviews (n = 39) that were conducted as part of the COVID-19 and Latinx Immigrants in Rural California (CLIMA) study [50]. The CLIMA study sought to understand the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinx immigrants living in rural California [50]. Interviews were conducted with Latinx immigrants between July 2020 and April 2021.…”

“I thought I was going to die there:” Socio-political contexts and the plight of undocumented Latinx in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In addition to the serious harms suffered by Latinx, they also faced various challenges in their daily lives, which might have affected health outcomes. For example, a recent study of rural Latinx immigrants and service providers in California showed that lack of access to safety net resources disadvantaged the population because of provider shortages and disinvestment in social services in rural areas ( Young et al, 2022 ). Also, a scoping narrative review of literature on ULI found that despite high infection rates, workers were unable to quarantine and instead suffered onerous working conditions in such industries as meat packing ( Salinas & Salinas, 2022 ).…”

“…While these studies reveal Latinx hardships during the pandemic, previous studies suggest that these results might be a result of long-standing challenges such as the racialized legal status of ULI and economic policies relegating them to bad jobs ( Asad & Clair, 2018 ; Ayón, 2015 ). However, the challenges of the Latinx population still need further investigation, as the study contexts have been limited to either rural areas where the economic and job opportunities were scarce even before the pandemic ( Young et al, 2022 ) or by gender-based perceptions ( Damle et al, 2022 ). To address this empirical gap, we unpack the fraught circumstances of undocumented Latinx immigrants (ULI) during the pandemic, a cohort that experiences precarity by virtue of both legal and economic circumstances ( Asad & Clair, 2018 ; Gonzales & Chavez, 2012 ; Menjívar & Abrego, 2012 ); we hope to illuminate how the processes of poor labor conditions in combination with immigration policies disadvantage this population.…”