Beverly Hills Immigration Law: April 2020

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Immigrants Deliver Food,' Hope' to Workers Hit by Pandemic

Immigrants Deliver Food,' Hope' to Workers Hit by Pandemic
by The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Every afternoon, Sandra Pérez and Francisco Ramírez go over their list of fellow New Yorkers who need help because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some are sick. Others lost jobs, but have children to feed. Others are elderly or disabled. All are immigrants, like them.

Then, the friends, both originally from Mexico, stock up on rice, beans, vegetables, cereal, soups and fruit at an East Harlem supermarket, and make deliveries by car to as many as 15 families a day.

“I feel that if we are well, physically, emotionally, then we can help others," said Ramírez, a 52-year-old day laborer who used to do construction jobs, but now finds work scarce because of the crisis.

Pérez and Ramírez are among a growing number of people who have taken it upon themselves to help an immigrant community that has been hard hit by the pandemic, but often lives in the shadows of government and not-for-profit aide systems because of barriers such as language and immigration status.

These aide networks can be informal and operate on word-of-mouth and social media fundraising campaigns.

In Stamford, Connecticut, Erika Zamora has been distributing food from the restaurant she co-owns even after it was forced to close.

“Many people here live check by check. If you miss a check you are in trouble," said Zamora, herself a Mexican immigrant. She plans to start calling people for donations.

In Delaware, Spanish-language radio station La ZMX manager Vladimir Rosales has been receiving calls from Guatemalan, Mexican, Salvadoran, Honduran and other immigrants asking for food. He responded by soliciting donations from stores in Wilmington and Seaford and having families pick up the bags of groceries from the station.

“It is very sad. People call me in tears,” he said.

The Migration Policy Institute found that 20% of the U.S. workers in vulnerable industries facing layoffs are immigrants, even though they only make up 17% of the civilian workforce.

According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in March, 49% of Hispanics surveyed say they or someone in their household has taken a pay cut or lost a job – or both – because of the COVID-19 outbreak, compared with 29% of white and 36% of black people.

The death toll from the coronavirus has also been disproportionately high in Black and Hispanic communities in New York City. Blacks have suffered roughly double the fatality rate of whites during the epidemic, according to city health data. The fatality rate for Hispanics has been only slightly better.

Perez said she felt compelled to begin offering volunteer help after seeing messages needy members of the Mexican community were posting on Facebook. Ramirez started his own Facebook page where people could share information. Perez bought food with her own money at first, but she and Ramirez now pay for the groceries with donated money.

People they deliver to tell them about others going hungry. Phone numbers get passed along and chain develops: Pérez says she gets about 10 to 15 phone calls or texts per day from people seeking help.

“We want to focus on the most vulnerable ones.” said Pérez, a 40-year-old single mother who works part-time for the city.

Peréz and Ramirez spend a daily average of between $100 and $150 at the supermarket. There are days that Peruvian and Mexican restaurants donate food and the friends just distribute those boxes. They raise the money through the Facebook page and a growing list of friends.

Sometimes the requests are more grim. People ask which funeral home they should call for relatives who have died or for the name of groups that can help cover the costs of a funeral or the repatriation of ashes to Mexico.

Raquel Barrera, a Mexican single mother who is sick in the Bronx, got a food delivery from Pérez and Ramírez last week.

Barrera, who is getting over a fever, body pain and strong coughing, lives with her mother, daughter, two nieces, a sister and a grandchild in a two-bedroom apartment.

“The food they brought was a blessing because we were able to feed the kids for several days,” said Barrera, who lost her job cleaning horse stables at a Chester, New York, ranch, about an hour from her home.

Most green-card holders can benefit from unemployment insurance or from the economic stimulus package recently approved by Congress. Some immigrants on a temporary work permit, like those applying for asylum, can also get unemployment insurance and the new relief checks.

Immigrants without social security numbers, however, are unable to access any of these options. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a partnership with Open Society Foundations to provide emergency relief to immigrant families, regardless of immigration status.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that his state will give cash to immigrants living in the country illegally who are hurt by the coronavirus, offering $500 apiece to 150,000 adults.

Filling in the gaps are volunteers like Myrna Lazcano, who lost her on job cleaning homes and offices thanks to the shutdown.

The 43-year-old Mexican immigrant, her husband and two daughters live off their savings, but still Lazcano delivers food to others in her East Harlem neighborhood bought with money that local churches, activists and acquaintances.

“By helping the community like this I feel that we are lifting the weight of this crisis,” she said. “People smile when they see the bags with food. I call them canisters of hope.”

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Two Dozen People Deported to Colombia on U.S. Flight Found to Have Coronavirus: Sources

Two Dozen People Deported to Colombia on U.S. Flight Found to Have Coronavirus: Sources
by Reuters

(Reuters) - About two dozen migrants deported from the United States on a flight to Colombia last month have since tested positive for the coronavirus, two people familiar with the matter said, adding to worries U.S. deportations could be spreading the disease.

Of the 64 migrants deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) on a March 30 flight, approximately 24 have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the people said.

ICE said at the time that it then used the same plane to repatriate Americans who had been stranded in Colombia as that country began a national lockdown.

An ICE spokeswoman said detainees on the flight were screened for elevated temperatures and symptoms associated with COVID-19. She did not say whether any had tested positive upon arrival in Colombia.

The agency said last week that it would begin testing some migrants before they were deported to other countries, a move that came as other governments demanded more screening before deportees were put on planes.

The deportation of migrants from the United States who test positive for the virus after arriving in their home countries has caused tensions with Latin American and Caribbean governments concerned about the spread of the disease.

In Guatemala, at least 103 migrants deported by the United States on a handful of flights in March and April have so far tested positive for coronavirus. That is around a fifth of all cases in the Central American country..

Other infections among deportees have been found in Haiti, Mexico and Jamaica.

Colombia has reported around 6,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and close to 300 deaths. Last week, the Colombian government extended its lockdown until May 11, while allowing construction and manufacturing businesses to reopen.

A spokesman for Colombia's migration agency confirmed arrival of the flight on March 30 with 64 people aboard, but directed inquiries about infections to health officials, who said such records are confidential.

The country's justice ministry said in a statement at the time of the flight that those aboard had been subjected to health checks by U.S. immigration officials, the Colombian Red Cross, and Bogota's health department at different points in the deportation process and that none had shown symptoms associated with COVID-19.

Everyone who arrived on the flight would have to complete 14 days of obligatory isolation required of all travelers entering Colombia, the ministry said, adding it would facilitate quarantine locations for the deportees.

The deportation flight came from an airfield holding center for migrants in Alexandria, Louisiana. Fourteen ICE employees at the facility had tested positive for COVID-19 as of April 28, according to the agency.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City, Arshad Mohammed and Ted Hesson in Washington, and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Editing by Dave Graham, Rosalba O'Brien and Himani Sarkar)

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Hispanic Caucus calls on Trump admin to investigate working conditions for meatpackers

Hispanic Caucus calls on Trump admin to investigate working conditions for meatpackers
by Laura Barron-Lopez

Latino lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to investigate working conditions for meat processing workers and issue a temporary emergency safety standard, a day after the president mandated that plants reopen.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday requiring plants to stay open or reopen amid concerns about food shortages during the coronavirus crisis. But multiple meat processing facilities across the country have seen the coronavirus ravage their workforces, and Latino members of Congress led by Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas), the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, are concerned that some companies are heaping even more risk on workers already prone to high rates of illness.

“Numerous companies across the meatpacking industry have not taken the necessary precautions they need to protect workers,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the administration. “While some companies were early actors in providing personal protective equipment, the callous inaction of others has reportedly led to multiple deaths and thousands of sick workers, as well as the death of two inspectors from the Department of Agriculture.”

Latinos have been hit hard by the coronavirus, representing a high number of hospitalizations and deaths compared with their share of the overall population, according to early data tracking cases by ethnicity. A disproportionate number of meatpackers are people of color and immigrants — 44 percent are Latino and 25 percent are African American, according to an analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Latinos are also the least insured population in the country, according to the Office of Minority Health, making them less likely to seek medical care if infected by the coronavirus.

“The majority of these workers are either Latino workers or some of them undocumented or refugee workers from other countries,” Castro said in an interview. “So these are very vulnerable populations who don't have a lot of political or economic power often to change their own working conditions.”

Working conditions at meatpacking plants are just part of a long list of concerns about Latino workers in essential services that have Latino lawmakers sounding the alarm. Many have pleaded with the administration to cease deportations as the coronavirus spreads. And Latino leaders have decried the lack of relief for Latino households and undocumented immigrants in the coronavirus packages passed by Congress.

“If the [Defense Production Act] is going to be used to force workers to appear under these circumstances, all executive orders threatening deportation or other removal actions against undocumented workers in these plants must be immediately suspended,” said Rep. Filemón Vela (D-Texas). “Furthermore, all essential workers and their immediate families should be given immediate green card status.”

Last week, the Hispanic Caucus requested the House Education and Labor Committee open an investigation and hold a hearing on the working conditions for meat processing workers during the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this month, the Hispanic Caucus called on Trump to not deport any essential workers. “It's very ironic that on the one hand, the president is trying to do everything he can to get them out of the country, but with an executive order, he's also requiring these people to stay here and work,” said Castro.

The League of United Latin American Citizens estimates 80 percent of the meat processing workforce is comprised of undocumented workers or refugees.

“The virus doesn't ask for papers, the virus hits everybody and we need to protect them,” said LULAC president Domingo Garcia. “And by giving [workers] temporary protective status, which President Trump can do by executive order, [he can] ensure that the food continues to flow to our grocery stores.”

The letter, led by Castro, was signed by 19 other Latino lawmakers, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Vela. It was sent to the secretaries for the Departments of Labor, Agriculture and Health and Human Services.

The Hispanic Caucus also called for the administration to issue an emergency temporary standard which would require meatpacking facilities to follow protection guidelines.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a joint guidance with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on precautionary measures like social distancing and staggered break times for meat, pork and poultry plants. But the guidance is just that: an unenforceable recommendation, not a mandate.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Department of Labor and OSHA clarified that while “it is vitally important” that employers adhere to the guidance, it would intervene if meatpacking companies were sued but found to have made “good faith attempts” to follow the guidelines.

“Where a meat, pork, or poultry processing employer operating pursuant to the President’s invocation of the DPA has demonstrated good faith attempts to comply with the Joint Meat Processing Guidance and is sued for alleged workplace exposures, the Department of Labor will consider a request to participate in that litigation in support of the employer’s compliance program,” reads a joint statement from Solicitor of Labor Kate O’Scannlain and Loren Sweatt of OSHA.

Recent reports have detailed cramped, unsanitary conditions for those working in meat and poultry facilities with little access to protective equipment to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Rates of coronavirus infection around the 150 largest meat packing plants are higher than infection rates in 75 percent of other U.S. counties, a USA Today and Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting analysis found.

“The administration needs to take action to hold the meatpacking industry accountable for its labor abuses,” said Castro.

Rebecca Rainey contributed to this report.

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Democrats seek to curb White House spending powers after Ukraine, border wall disputes

Democrats seek to curb White House spending powers after Ukraine, border wall disputes
by Caitlin Emma

Top House Democrats unveiled a bill Wednesday that would rein in what they see as the Trump administration’s abuse of congressional spending powers in its Ukraine aid freeze and diversion of federal cash to the border wall.

The Congressional Power of the Purse Act would bolster transparency requirements around the executive branch‘s use of federal funding and increase penalties for violations of budget law, which already curbs the administration’s authority to alter congressionally appropriated funds.

Budget Chairman John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey of Newyork and Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York introduced the bill. Senate Appropriations ranking member Patrick Leahy of Vermont plans to introduce companion legislation in the upper chamber.

Democrats say the measure, which has been in the works for months, follows what they view as a series of abuses by the administration to withhold or redirect appropriated money to further the president’s personal interests and policy goals.

That includes President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency last year to free up billions of dollars for a border wall, his freeze on hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine last summer and efforts to scrap billions of dollars in foreign aid, among other actions.

“Over the past year and a half, the House Budget Committee has worked to hold this administration accountable for its systemic abuse of budget and appropriations law and degradation of our democratic principles,” Yarmuth said in a statement. “This legislation will add teeth to budget law and further empower Congress to take a stand against Administrations that disregard our Constitution.”

In January, the Government Accountability Office determined the administration broke the law by withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine last summer — a move that prompted House Democrats' impeachment inquiry into whether Trump leveraged the aid for political favors. The Office of Management and Budget disagreed with GAO's ruling.

OMB officials did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation. The Trump administration has so far rejected any congressional attempts to curtail its decisions around federal money.

The new legislation would expedite the GAO‘s ability to obtain information during investigations of federal budget law violations. It would also allow GAO to sue more quickly if funds are improperly withheld. Federal officials found in violation of the law could be fired or suspended without pay.

The bill would place an “expiration date” on any national emergency declarations, and the administration wouldn’t be able to rescind federal funding without congressional approval. And OMB would have to make public any decisions to slow or withhold federal funds.

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Court won't block Trump's coronavirus immigration ban

Court won't block Trump's coronavirus immigration ban
by Susannah Luthi

A federal judge in Oregon refused to suspend President Donald Trump's recent executive order that put a 60-day ban on green cards for most immigrants due to the coronavirus crisis.

The ruling came from U.S. District Judge Michael Simon, who sided last fall with the same plaintiffs when they sued over a separate immigration proclamation issued by the president. That policy would deny visas for people who can't pay for their own health insurance or foreseeable medical costs, although Simon temporarily stopped its implementation. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is now weighing that injunction.

Simon also granted the plaintiffs, who are immigrants, class-action status in that case, and in this new petition they had hoped to piggy-back on his previous ruling. They contended that the coronavirus-related freeze on visas could delay applications for some of these same immigrants whom Simon backed last fall.

But the judge said it was too much of a stretch to connect the two policies, and that it was outside his authority to stop the temporary coronavirus-related immigration freeze just because it might apply to some of the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. Doing so would be "untenable," he wrote, since it could interfere with any attempt by a president to temporarily restrict immigration for urgent national security reasons.

Trump's order came last week, after he vowed that he'd halt immigration to the United States during the Covid-19 crisis. But in the end he limited the order to a 60-day freeze on most green cards while still allowing visa-processing for hundreds of thousands of temporary employees like farm workers and crop pickers, who make up the majority of immigrants.

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Mitch McConnell's coronavirus gamble

Mitch McConnell's coronavirus gamble
by Burgess Everett & Marianne Levine

Coronavirus cases are still rising in the District of Columbia, where more than 200 people have died of the disease. The House decided it was too dangerous to return to the Capitol.

But Mitch McConnell’s Senate is coming back anyway.

The Senate majority leader is gambling that 100 senators can safely meet on the Senate floor and throughout the Capitol complex. Many of them will travel across the country for the Senate’s reopening, risking exposure on airplanes and in airports.

And 49 senators are aged 65 or older and at greater risk of the deadly disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Plus, the senators’ return will bring back hundreds of staffers and Capitol employees.

McConnell is signaling he will keep advancing judicial and executive branch nominations next week while he assesses future coronavirus legislation with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Senate Democrats say it isn’t worth coming back for that.

“What a dangerous and ill-conceived idea,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who is discussing with his wife and staff whether to return next week. “I have some colleagues that are seriously considering not returning because there’s nothing on the agenda yet that requires us to be there.”

“If we’re doing oversight work or we’re passing a relief bill, then you can credibly make the case we are essential employees,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “But there’s no reason to bring the Senate back to make conservative radio hosts happy. That’s a dereliction of duty.”

Republicans counter that the Senate needs to be in session and policy priorities can’t wait.

“Our job is to get nominations across the finish line, and I’ve put so much time and effort into health care reform and climate,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “I almost feel like that wanes every day you’re not there.”

The schism reflects the culture war playing out across the country as protesters press governors in a series of states to lift restrictions intended to slow the outbreak. The GOP-controlled Senate also wants to show that it's on the job while the Democratic House stays away.

As of late Wednesday, no guidance was distributed to senators on how to stay safe in the Capitol, according to lawmakers in both parties. Senators hope the Office of the Attending Physician delivers information by Friday, according to multiple sources. Amid that uncertainty, several Democrats are pressing McConnell on how to protect front-line Capitol workers. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the oldest senator at 86, is even asking McConnell to reconsider.

Despite the anxiety, McConnell maintains that the Senate can still function safely.

"We can man the Senate in a way that's consistent with good practices, proper spacing, masks where appropriate,” he said Wednesday on Fox News. “We believe we can conduct the people's business, and we intend to."

Republicans are planning to still have in-person party lunches next week. Democrats will do all of their caucus business by conference call for now, senators said, another sharp break between the two parties’ approach to the disease.

McConnell has repeatedly vowed the pandemic will not deter him from confirming more judges. The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning a confirmation hearing next week for Justin Walker, one of his protégés, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is also preparing a hearing on the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) to be director of national intelligence, and several other committees are considering hearings. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is planning to limit hearing attendance to senators, witnesses and a small group of staffers.

Unlike the House, the Senate must consider nominations that take up valuable floor time. The GOP also risks losing control of the chamber this year, and with it the ability to confirm conservative judges.

Still, Republicans say there will be continuing discussions about the coronavirus response when back in D.C.

Some GOP senators have raised questions about returning to Washington, but more quietly than Democrats. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) pressed McConnell for guidance in a GOP conference call on Tuesday.

Braun said he had hoped to implement remote voting temporarily and acknowledged “there’s a risk” in coming back. But he hopes everyone learned their lesson after Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) coronavirus diagnosis in March.

“We were in peril the way we were,” Braun said. “Now more than ever, we’re all aware of what could happen if you get a little bit careless.”

The absence of a coronavirus-specific agenda coupled with the considerable health risks dominated a Democratic Caucus call on Tuesday. Democratic Sens.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania have also privately expressed concerns about the matter, according to multiple sources.

The only floor vote scheduled is on Monday to confirm the inspector general for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

There’s also something of a grudge match playing out with the House. McConnell says the Senate won’t be on the “sidelines” as the pandemic plays out.

“Republican senators believe it’s our duty and responsibility to return to Washington,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 GOP leader. “We will work with guidelines from the Capitol physician to protect the health of the public and the members. Regardless of Speaker Pelosi’s decision to keep the House at home, the Senate has work to do.”

McConnell says the Senate must meet in person to discuss any future coronavirus-related legislation, and some Republicans griped publicly about a $484 billion bill approved this month without roll call votes. The full Senate can more easily pass coronavirus bills over an individual senator’s objections, yet Republicans want to go slow on the next big relief package.

Senate Democrats say they are ready to get back to work to combat the coronavirus but accuse McConnell of endangering lives by offering no game plan for how the Senate will function. Precautions like holding votes open for an extended amount of time, they say, are not enough.

“Sen. McConnell prides himself in controlling everything in the United States Senate at this point, the floor, when we’re in, when we’re out. And so to some extent it needs to be … on him,” said Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who acknowledged the personal risk he and others will take next week.

“We’re supposed to come back Monday, which will be my 66th birthday,” Jones added. “Of course it’s troubling.”

Senators and their aides are also questioning the decision to bring the Senate back to Washington right as the city is projected to soon hit its peak. The House reversed course this week and delayed its return, after consulting with the Capitol’s attending physician.

In separate letters sent Wednesday, Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Sherrod Brown of Ohio pressed McConnell on the safety of the Senate’s workforce. Van Hollen described it as an “obligation” for McConnell, while Brown warned that “failure to protect all workers” could lead to the virus spreading.

McConnell’s office declined Wednesday to offer more guidance for how the Capitol will operate, referring instead to his appearance on Fox News. He said the Senate will operate with spacing, masks and appropriate social distancing.

He also suggested there is a larger point to make by returning.

“We feel like if people on the front lines are willing to work during the pandemic, we should be, as well,” McConnell said. “And so the Senate will come back.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) responded that she still doesn’t understand exactly how that’s going to work.

“It isn’t enough just to say: ‘Oh, we’ll sanitize it’,” Murray said. “Who’s ‘we’ sanitizing it? Is Mitch McConnell going to do that, and the bathrooms and the chairs? I don’t think so.”

Quint Forgey contributed to this report.

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Emboldened Democrats push for immigrant relief in next coronavirus response

Emboldened Democrats push for immigrant relief in next coronavirus response
by Rafael Bernal

Democrats are increasingly bullish about pushing pro-immigrant coronavirus legislation through Congress, as the Trump administration pulls in the opposite direction, using the crisis to tighten immigration controls.

Administration officials have shunned immigration-based proposals in the relief packages — to the point where Democrats say the GOP refused to include he word "undocumented" in stimulus legislation — making clear to Republican members that the administration will not budge on its signature issue.

Democrats have pitched a series of proposals to benefit immigrants in coronavirus relief packages, ranging from automatic extensions of visas and other immigration benefits to inclusion of otherwise ineligible immigrants in COVID-19 testing and relief.

Those proposals have generally not made it into the final bill language, a reality that's started to gnaw at immigrant advocates.

Democrats say the goodwill earned by essential immigrant workers, particularly in health care, will force the Republican-controlled Senate to consider legislation it would have ignored before the pandemic, such as automatic extensions for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the temporary protected status (TPS) programs, two immigration programs that President Trump has fought to curtail.

"What coronavirus has made clear is how vital our DACA and TPS recipients are to continuing health care in America," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on a call with reporters Tuesday.

"It's obviously an awful crisis, but I think it's showing Americans how much we need these folks to fight this crisis and it will help us gain support as we negotiate [the next stimulus bill]," added Schumer, who called on the administration to extend DACA and TPS permits automatically.

And House Democrats are playing a balancing act, as some of their members, particularly those who represent poor or minority districts, are starting to gripe about their priorities being left out of relief packages.

The Tri-Caucus — the coalition of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus — put its weight behind the Health Equity and Accountability Act (HEAA), which would expand the public health care system to address inequities that plague minority groups, particularly immigrants.

HEAA has been introduced and rebuffed every Congress for the better part of two decades for various reasons, but it has mostly served as a marker of how minority caucuses envision legislation on health care equality.

Democrats say their GOP counterparts may be in for a penny in for a pound, as they've already supported an unprecedented level of spending to counter the crisis through recent stimulus bills.

"The pandemic is likely to have many consequences for our society, and I hope one of them is that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be more open to support new ideas about health care than they were before," Rep. Jesús García (D-Ill.) said during a Tri-Caucus call touting the benefits of HEAA.

"In the past few weeks we have seen Republicans vote for large government measures that they probably never imagined to vote for even last year,” he added.

But the nearly $3 trillion spent so far on coronavirus relief could also make Republicans gun shy on trying new approaches on other issues.

"What the Democrats are trying to do to make this case is throw everything up on the wall and see what sticks," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist and former congressional candidate.

O'Connell said Republicans are weary of the massive spending already legislated this year.

"Many are asking, 'If I can't put on the brakes now, when?' " he said.

"This is a time when it's not going to work because everyone is so scared," he added.

But Tri-Caucus leaders see the timing as ideal, as health care workers — including immigrants — garner public sympathy for their role in fighting the pandemic.

Immigrants have been among the people who have worked in hospitals and other essential services like grocery stores during the pandemic.

"What a perfect time for the reintroduction of this bill," said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.