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NILC Resources |
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FACT
SHEETS, ISSUE BRIEFS, ADVOCACY RESOURCES |
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Immigrant Eligibility for Disaster
Assistance, fact sheet prepared by NILC, National Council of
La Raza, and the American Red Cross. (PDF)
(6/07) |
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National Immigration Law Center
Denounces Department of Labor’s Ongoing Failure to Enforce Employment
Laws in the Gulf Coast (10/5/06) |
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COMMENTS RE: LOUISIANA RECOVERY ACTION PLAN:
Letter to the Louisiana Recovery
Authority Re: "The Road Home Housing Programs: Action Plan for the Use
of Disaster Recovery Funds" (PDF)
(4/17/06, posted 5/11/06)
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ISSUE
BRIEF:
Priorities for Immigrant Workers in
the Gulf Coast (PDF)
(posted 3/15/06) |
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Disaster Assistance: Food, Shelter, Cash
Payments, Loans, and Other Help for Victims of Major Disasters
(posted 9/2/05) (Excerpted from NILC's
Guide to Immigrant Eligibility for
Federal Programs, 2002 ed.) (PDF) |
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Features That Should Be Included in
Hurricane Katrina Relief
(posted 9/19/05) (PDF)
Like all others who have suffered from the hurricane and its
aftermath, non-U.S. citizens who were living in the affected zone when
Katrina hit have lost their lives, their loved ones, their homes, jobs,
and possessions. Their need for relief is the same as that of
other survivors, but other circumstances they face as noncitizens could
prevent them from accessing relief that is available to others.
Hence the recommendations in this memo. |
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Hurricane
Katrina-related "Immigration Relief" Bill Passed by House Falls Short
(posted 9/22/05) (PDF)
The House bill that passed on Sept. 21, 2005, is
disappointing because it leaves in place provisions of our immigration
law that threaten to act as a second wave of harm to hurricane survivors
whose livelihood has already been destroyed by the storm.
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ARTICLES
AND REPORTS |
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Addressing the Needs of Immigrants
and Limited English Communities in Disaster Planning and Relief: Lessons
for Government, Disaster Relief Agencies, and Community-Based
Organizations
(Immigrants' Rights Update,
10/28/08) |
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And Injustice for All: Workers' Lives in the Reconstruction of New
Orleans
(see Human and
Employment Rights-related Issues and Reports). |
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Louisiana
Recovery Authority issues inadequate housing plan
(Immigrants' Rights Update,
5/23/06) |
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ICE steps up
raids in Gulf Coast
(Immigrants' Rights Update,
5/23/06) |
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African-American
and immigrant advocates ask Congress to take an active role in
safeguarding the rights of Gulf Coast hurricane survivors and workers
(Immigrants' Rights Update, 3/23/06) |
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Gulf Coast
hurricane survivors ask international body to investigate human rights
violations
(Immigrants' Rights Update, 3/23/06) |
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Exploitation, abuse of immigrant
workers in Gulf Coast is main topic in advocates' meetings with ICE and
DOL officials
(Immigrants' Rights Update, 3/23/06) |
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Hurricane
Disaster Relief Measures Fall Short or Stall: Immigrant Workers
Recruited for Cleanup Face Exploitation, Danger, Immigrants' Rights Update,
Vol. 19, Issue 6, Oct. 21, 2005. (posted 11/15/05) (PDF)
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COMMUNITY
EDUCATION MATERIAL |
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Available on the
Community Education
Materials page. Includes "Immigration Enforcement: Know
Your Rights at Home and at Work" and "What to Do if You Are Arrested
or Detained by Immigration"
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Resources from
Other Nonprofit Organizations |
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Disaster Preparedness in Urban
Immigrant Communities: Lessons Learned from Recent Catastrophic Events
and Their Relevance to Latino and Asian Communities in Southern
California (Tomás Rivera Policy Institute and Asian Pacific
American Legal Center, 6/08) |
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Hurricane Katrina: Models for
Effective Emergency Response in the Asian American Community
(Asian American Justice Center, undated; available from AAJC's "Emergency
Preparedness" webpage) (posted 7/28/08) |
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Big, Easy Money a report
by CorpWatch details Disaster Profiteering on the
American Gulf Coast (8/17/06) |
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Oxfam has just released its new report about the Gulf Coast
recovery:
"Forgotten
Communities, Unmet Promises" (8/06) (PDF) |
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Disaster Unemployment Assistance: How Families Can Access the
Program After Hurricane Katrina (National Employment Law Project
website) |
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Federal
Benefits for Hurricane Katrina Victims: Links on Obtaining Medicaid,
Head Start, UI and Other Benefits for Hurricane Victims
(Coalition on Human Needs website) |
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FEMA, SBA, and Other Benefits
for Hurricane Katrina and Rita Survivors: Annotated Outline,
10/28/05 (Neighborhood Legal Services of Los
Angeles County) |
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Florida Legal
Services, Inc.-provided disaster assistance information (Florida
Legal Services, Inc., website) |
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Health Care After Hurricane Katrina (National Health Law Program
website) |
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Help for Hurricane Katrina
Victims (flyer)
(Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County) |
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Hurricane Katrina
Relief Resources (LawHelp.org website) |
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Katrina Legal Aid Resource
Center (This website is the result of a partnership among the
American Bar Association, the Legal Services Corporation, the
National Legal Aid & Defender Association, and ProBonoNet. It
links to resources for victims of the hurricane, for legal aid and
defender programs helping them, and for private attorney
volunteers.) |
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State Protection &
Advocacy agencies, and links to governmental agencies serving people
with disabilities (National Disability Rights Network website)
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Information
from Government Agencies |
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employment-related |
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Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) - Notice Regarding I-9 Documentation
Requirements for Hiring Hurricane Victims (PDF)
Workers who are denied employment for lack of documents that satisfy the
I-9 requirements can contact the Office of Special Counsel for
Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) through the
employee hotline at (800) 255-7688 or visit
www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc/.
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fema
(federal emergency management agency) |
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Disaster Assistance: Frequently Asked Questions
-
English
-
Spanish-language
fact sheets and resources
-
Vietnamese-language
fact sheets and resources |
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Apply for FEMA Aid (by
phone or online) |
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Eligibility Requirements for
Disaster Aid (Q's & A's regarding immigrants' eligibility
for disaster aid) (Aug. 18, 2004) |
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FEMA Applicant’s Guide to
Individual and Household Assistance Programs (8/05) (PDF)
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finding missing relatives & friends |
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Find Family and Friends: Government Sources (and links to other
government & nongovernment resources) (FirstGov.gov)
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food & food stamps |
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U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Food & Nutrition Service (FNS) |
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Expanded Disaster Evacuee Policy
(excerpt: "FNS
is setting forth expanded criteria to enable State agencies to better
serve people who have evacuated Hurricane Katrina disaster areas and are
applying for food stamp benefits in areas where the Disaster Food Stamp
Program is not operating. Applications may be accepted under these
policies through October 15, 2005.") (PDF) |
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Questions &
Answers on Evacuees (This guidance applies to the Expanded
Disaster Evacuee Policy (Sept. 5, 2005).) (PDF) |
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FNS
Disaster Assistance page |
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The National Enhanced Policy for
Evacuees
(excerpt: "The
Food Stamp Program is implementing a new, one-month policy for
certifying evacuees who have left Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi
because of Hurricane Katrina. This policy applies in all states, the
District of Columbia, and the territories only for September, 2005. The
policy
provides for a one-month maximum food stamp benefit for any evacuee
household. Eligibility is based simply on evacuee status. States with
unusual needs based on their volume of evacuees may work with USDA for
additional relief.") (PDF)
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housing |
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U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
-
Disaster
Recovery Guidance by Multifamily Housing After a Presidentially-Declared
Disaster (PDF)
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immigration & citizenship services |
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USCIS Announces Interim Relief
for Foreign Students Adversely Impacted by Hurricane Katrina
(U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services press release, dated
Nov. 25, 2005, with links to a FAQ page and the relevant
Federal Register notice) (PDF) |
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Remedial Measures Made Necessary
by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services interoffice memo
dated 10/5/05) (PDF) (excerpt:
"In general, USCIS employees should take a generous approach to
addressing issues brought about by the hurricanes and should use
whatever proper means are available to them to remedy
hurricane-related immigration situations. . . . This guidance covers
individuals or entities who can establish that they resided, worked,
or operated their professional business or other entity in an
affected area of Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama at the time of
Hurricane Katrina (on or about August 29, 2005), or an affected area
of Texas or Louisiana at the time of Hurricane Rita (on or about
September 23, 2005), regardless of where those individuals or
entities may be currently located.") |
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U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services
Operations after Hurricane Katrina FAQ (PDF) |
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USCIS
Interoffice Memo on Fee Waivers for Hurricane Katrina Victims
(dated 9/19/05; posted 9/26/05) (PDF)
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immigration status issues & federal legislation |
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Hurricane
Katrina-Related Immigration Issues and Legislation (Congressional
Research Service report, 9/19/05) (PDF)
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medicare & medicaid |
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HHS Secretary Mike
Leavitt declared a public health emergency for affected areas, allowing
it to waive certain Medicaid, SCHIP, Medicare, and Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. The public
health emergency also allows HHS to make grants and enter into contracts
more expeditiously. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) is currently working to ensure that Medicaid, SCHIP, and Medicare
will accommodate the emergency health care needs of beneficiaries and
medical providers in states devastated by the hurricane. CMS also will
ease the programs’ normal operating procedures to speed provision of
health care services, waiving some documentation requirements. Federal
Medicaid officials are also working with state Medicaid agencies to
coordinate resolution of interstate payment agreements for recipients
served outside their home states. See attached APHSA memo and CMS
Medicaid fact sheet for details. |
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Litigation |
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Castellanos-Contreras, et al v. Decatur Hotels, LLC, et al:
Guest workers expose hotelier's scheme to profit from immigrant labor while
excluding African Americans.
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Information about other lawsuits brought on behalf of immigrant workers in the
disaster-affected area is available on the website of the Southern
Poverty Law Center.
-
Rodrigues et al. v. Belfor USA Group
Inc.
(The lawsuit alleges that Belfor has unlawfully used a subcontractor system
to avoid paying any overtime wages to workers on its massive reconstruction
projects in New Orleans.)
-
Navarrete-Cruz v. LVI Environmental
Services of New Orleans, Inc., et al. (LVI used a subcontractor
system to avoid paying workers the wages owed to them. One such
subcontractor, D&L, Environmental, Inc., failed to pay many of its migrant
workers anything for much of their labor. The plaintiffs were employed
cleaning public elementary and high schools.)
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Information
regarding FEMA-related litigation is available on the "FEMA Answers"
website:
www.femaanswers.org.
Information on the following cases appears there:
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McWaters v.
FEMA (re: FEMA's failure to provide adequate assistance, including
sufficient provision for temporary housing)
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Brou v. FEMA
(re: FEMA's failure to provide temporary housing that is accessible for
people with disabilities)
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Sylvester v.
Bossiere (re: failure to provide adequate notice to Katrina survivors
facing eviction proceedings)
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Immigration
Service Providers in
Hurricane
Katrina-affected Areas |
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The list of providers available
by clicking
here is only
partial, and it's also a work in progress. More providers will be listed
as we are made aware of them.
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Links to Websites Devoted to Justice for Hurricane Victims |
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LawHelp.org/LA. Click
here to be taken to
LawHelp.org/LA, Louisiana's online guide to free legal help. Learn about
your rights, free legal services, how to help yourself with a legal problem,
courts, and community services. |
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Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch. Click
here to be taken to
Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch, a new project to document and investigate the
rebuilding of the Gulf Region from the devastation left by Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita. Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch is a project of the
Institute for Southern Studies, a nonprofit research and education center, and
the institute's flagship magazine, Southern Exposure. |
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Justice for New Orleans. Click
here to be taken to
Justice for New Orleans, a website developed by the Loyola Law Clinic in New
Orleans that is devoted to social justice in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
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Oxfam
America. Click
here to be taken to
Oxfam America's "Gulf Coast Hurricanes" web page.
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Reports on Katrina/Rita-related Relief and Recovery Efforts |
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Forgotten Communities, Unmet Promises
(Oxfam America, 8/06). Explores how the largest reconstruction effort
in recent U.S. history has failed so far to address the needs of the Gulf
region's poorest residents, despite grand promises to the contrary. |
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Hurricane Katrina: Improving Federal
Contracting Practices in Disaster Recovery Operations (U.S.
Government Accountability Office, 5/4/06). |
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Hurricane Katrina: GAO's Preliminary
Observations Regarding Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
(U.S. Government Accountability Office, 3/8/06). |
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Good Work and Fair Contracts: Making
Gulf Coast Reconstruction Work for Local Residents and Businesses
(Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity, 2/28/06). In this
report and a
report card that accompanies
it,
Interfaith Worker Justice and the GCCRE urge Congress to pass
legislation to establish ethical federal contracting standards for Gulf
region reconstruction work and to allocate funding for worker centers in the
region to be run by a coalition of labor, faith, and community
organizations. The report also urges the U.S. Dept. of Labor to
dispatch special enforcement units, including bilingual staff, to
investigate violations and to enforce wage and hour and worker health and
safety laws. |
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In the Eye of the Storm: How the
Government and Private Response to Hurricane Katrina Failed Latinos
(National Council of La Raza, 2/28/06). This new report from NCLR
concludes that the federal government and the American Red Cross are
unprepared to address the needs of Latinos and other diverse communities in
the event of a disaster. It also recommends ways to improve both the public and private response in future
disasters. |
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Recovering States? The Gulf Coast Six
Months After the Storms
(Oxfam America, 2/06). This report reveals that poor households are
being left behind in the disaster recovery efforts and urges federal and
state officials to recommit themselves to inclusive rebuilding plans that
address deep and persistent poverty in the region.
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Human
and Employment Rights-related
Issues and Reports |
|
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National
Letter on DHS Disaster Policy (New Orleans Workers’ Center for
Racial Justice, 9/08)
-
Statement on Impartiality of American Red Cross Disaster Services
"Red Cross workers will not question clients about their citizenship status,
nor will they request birth certificates, immigration papers, passports,
social security cards, or similar documents that could be interpreted as
being used to identify the nationality or immigration status of persons
seeking Red Cross assistance. Only such documents necessary to
identify the individual or family as living in the disaster-affected area
are required for Red Cross assistance. If federal, state or local
authorities make a request to enter a shelter for the purpose of looking for
undocumented shelter residents, the Red Cross will not grant them permission
unless provided with a subpoena or court order. The Red Cross may
disclose information about shelter residents at the behest of law
enforcement if the disclosure is necessary to avert a threat or protect the
health or safety of shelter occupants, another person or the community."
(9/9/08)
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And Injustice for All: Workers' Lives in
the Reconstruction of New Orleans
(Advancement Project, National Immigration Law Center, and New Orleans
Worker Justice Coalition, 7/06). (PDF)
From the
news release issued with the report:
"[This report comprises] the most comprehensive documentation of
post-Katrina worker conditions to date. [It] is a compilation of personal
narratives based on more than 700 worker interviews that raises the voices
of New Orleanians struggling to return and reconstruction workers, all of
whom are attempting to survive in the face of inequitable and unjust
policies and practices of public and private institutions." |
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When Disaster Strikes: A Human Rights
Analysis of the 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes: In Response to the United
States' Periodic Report under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (International Human Rights Law Clinic,
Boalt Hall School of Law, 6/06). (PDF) |
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Request for hearing regarding human
rights impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Copy of
letter sent to Mr. Santiago A. Canton, executive secretary, IACHR, 3/8/06). (PDF) |
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