COVID-19 has highlighted the flaws of the United States in the ways it has failed the most vulnerable to live within its borders. Included in these flaws are socioeconomic disparities, a lack of financial safety nets for all workers, universal healthcare that is not dependent on employment, and other workers’ protections (Sönmea et al., 2020). These protections include paid sick leave, paid family, parental, and vacation leave, and unemployment insurance (Sönmeza et al., 2020). The solution to achieving these protections for workers is a coordinated effort from public and private decision-makers to ensure universal safety and care, whether during a global pandemic or not (Sönmez et al., 2020). Important to keep in mind is that migration is both a right and an inevitability, and it is social work’s responsibility to advocate for improving the lives of all people who migrate.
International human rights instruments should be adopted into policy as a benchmark of rights for undocumented domestic workers. Sending states must use the financial power of multilateral trade agreements to advocate for rights, protections, and better working conditions for undocumented domestic workers (Jakubowski, 2007). While sending states are incentivized by remittances that bolster their economies to advocate for better working conditions, receiving states also have the responsibility to uphold these protections (Jakubowski, 2007). Further, undocumented domestic workers must be included intentionally in comprehensive COVID-19 relief moving forward (Langellier, 2020).
It is social work’s responsibility to recognize these shortcomings and advocate for policy changes that support undocumented domestic workers and all workers. Means testing, or requiring individuals to prove an arbitrary level of need before providing them government financial aid, fails the humanity necessary to fulfill social work’s ethical code. Instead, there must be some sign of compassion and empathy for people who were excluded from unemployment insurance benefits and a sense of solidarity in response to the COVID-19 global crisis. Social workers must advocate for this level of care beyond the current crisis, maintaining the high value of each individual, citizen or not.
Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) reveals the need to include systemic oppressive structures such as violence in policies around immigration in our analysis of quality of life needs of undocumented domestic workers (Barajas-Gonzalez et al., 2021). This analysis highlights the need for forthcoming research to include mental health factors alongside financial needs of workers.
Advocating for the needs of undocumented domestic workers starts with pursuing participatory action research (PAR) and a critical paradigm that centers undocumented domestic workers in all parts of the research process, from planning, through data collection, and analysis. Even though it may take more time, money, and energy, PAR has been proven effective in clarifying challenges and barriers facing undocumented migrants for past projects (Brinton Lykes et al., 2011). As a methodology of research, PAR will raise the voices of community members most affected by injustices felt during this global pandemic by intentionally making research partners out of undocumented workers (Brinton Lykes et al., 2011).
In order to address the specific needs of undocumented workers during the global COVID-19 pandemic, individual and social supports must address the unique, intersecting dangers they face. Ultimately taking the lead from undocumented domestic workers, we recommend using our proposed research question, considerations, and historical context to set up qualitative interviews to uncover the effects of the Excluded Workers Fund and alternative ways to radically improve the lives of those it purports to help.
