As the coronavirus pandemic has taken over matters of life and death globally, immigrant communities were some of the most deeply impacted. In the United States (U.S.), Latinx immigrants and other minorities have experienced greater economic burden and worse health outcomes, resulting in alarming rates of death from COVID-19. Yet the government’s relief measures to support individuals did not extend to millions of immigrants. This left many immigrants with the cruel choice to either stay home to protect themselves and their loved ones from the virus or go to work to support their families. Disregard for a large segment of the population is further complemented by strict immigration policies, harsher border restrictions, and public health guidelines that failed to account for the realities faced by immigrants. In this brief, we highlight the unequal toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrants and consider social work response. We argue that the pandemic demands more of the social work profession, as the coronavirus crisis exposed more clearly the systemic inequalities toward immigrants and aggravates their vulnerabilities. Insofar as systems are unequal and racist in the context of coronavirus, there is a great need for social work response that is innovative, brave, and deeply connected to communities.

中文翻译：

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冠状病毒大流行和移民社区：一场需要更多社会工作专业的危机

随着冠状病毒大流行已经接管了全球的生死攸关的问题，移民社区受到了最深的影响。在美国 (US)，拉丁裔移民和其他少数民族经历了更大的经济负担和更糟糕的健康状况，导致 COVID-19 的死亡率令人震惊。然而，政府支持个人的救济措施并没有扩展到数百万移民。这让许多移民不得不做出残酷的选择，要么呆在家里保护自己和亲人免受病毒感染，要么去工作养家糊口。严格的移民政策、更严格的边境限制以及未能考虑移民面临的现实的公共卫生指导方针进一步补充了对大部分人口的漠视。在这篇简短的文章中，我们强调了 COVID-19 大流行对移民造成的不平等损失，并考虑了社会工作应对措施。我们认为，大流行需要更多的社会工作专业，因为冠状病毒危机更清楚地暴露了对移民的系统性不平等并加剧了他们的脆弱性。就冠状病毒背景下的系统不平等和种族主义而言，非常需要创新、勇敢且与社区密切相关的社会工作响应。