IN MY SHOES
Why are there two police cars with flashing lights outside the restaurant where the Hispanic Resource Center (HRC) is interacting with people applying for assistance from its Emergency Relief Fund (ERF)? Are they interested locally or are they coordinating with ICE? The latter was in town two days before, at a laundromat and adjacent convenience store. Fortunately, they are not curious about the group directly visible inside the location, a gathering so large as to block the entrance. It is probably only a coincidence that a young boy, waiting with his family in line for an ERF decision, throws up at the same time as he sees the police.
The ERF process took place at two restaurants in a farming community about 55 miles from New York City and 25 miles from the Delaware Water Gap. However, this mileage is basically irrelevant. It is the distance from “home” that in an adversarial political environment produces a need to stay close, to find kindred spirits if extended family is not available. There is no true security, even when one is equipped with “know your rights” cards outlining what to do if there is a knock on the door.
The restaurants are of modest size, 25 seats in one instance and 40 in the other. On both occasions, they were virtually full, almost entirely by people seeking ERF. Only a few had taken a seat to eat the delicious food available.
The majority, it is learned, live within walking distance. They have been here for two months or twenty years, or any length in between. Countries of origin are: Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela. There were no questions asked about the path they took to get here, whether it was through the Darien Gap or a similarly “scenic” route.
When they arrive to this country, they have a phone number, maybe a name – friend or family — who has come to this distant area with a growing Hispanic population.
At times, it is evident that some struggle to read a simple document written in Spanish. A few have their offspring provide translation. There is no algorithm that connects number of years here with proficiency in English. At times, handwriting is indecipherable. Familiarity with checks is sometimes not high. The check-cashing services made serious money from this ERF endeavor.
There are many single mothers, aka fatherless children. There could be a dozen reasons; no questions were asked. With the handful of kids who have come with their parents, a little game is played by HRC: Messi or Ronaldo, math or science, school or soccer, sancocho or cheeseburger.
The jobs represented are primarily construction, cleaning, landscaping, factories, restaurants. The characteristics of such work are physical capabilities and specific skills, plus a willingness to labor for any amount of money (often cash). Essentially they are powerless to negotiate. And adverse weather conditions can mean the loss of a day’s pay.
The home front is analogously less than clear. An apartment previously occupied by four may now have five, to accommodate a new arrival. If it had two wage-earners previously, now there may be an inconsistent three. When the landlord is aware, the rent gets boosted. The rent itself may not be paid directly to a landlord but to the person whose name is on the rental agreement. And the whole arrangement quite likely will be transacted in cash.
Similar to many millions of Americans born here, budgets are presumptively tight, zero to negative amounts at the end of the day. The absence of a day’s pay looms large in that context, particularly since rent is a fixed obligation, whereas other costs can be adjusted, even the heating and electric bills when financial necessity overrides comfort.
It is no surprise then, when the daily newsfeed is of negative events impacting the community, that financial assistance is an integral part of reacting to the mess that is politics. In-depth documents outlining what a potentially affected person/family should be doing to be prepared for various what-if scenarios are on-point. For those standing in line for ERF, however, that is more an exercise for people accustomed to reading through multiple pages of information and advice; the former’s need is emergency money to pay bills, rent and food being the lead categories.
Definitions of what constitutes an “emergency” vary of course. The ERF was not set up to handle large legal or medical bills. It was not staffed to drill down on the information provided by the applicant. Is it likely that truth was shaded in a percentage of instances, yes, but all money-based programs have built-in assumptions concerning accuracy of information. Suffice it to say that the perfect is a negative pursuit if it prevents good from being accomplished.
Addendum One:
Effectively, what took place above was a one-time, unscripted, only quietly announced, unanalyzed, narrowly focused, modified UBI, although unlike the model, funds per person had to be adjusted on the fly, based on the number seeking ERF and the total dollars available.
What then is UBI? Universal Basic Income is an idea that – in the full version — every person should receive a monthly check with no strings attached. In practice, the experiments being run in several dozen cities across the country have various rules about eligibility but the money itself, typically about $500 a month, has no restrictions on how it can be spent. ERF money, a fraction of this amount per recipient, similarly had no restrictions.
The same set of economic variables which can make payment of rent and the purchase of adequate food a struggle for the individuals and the families of those being assisted by ERF are obviously true regardless of ethnicity or arrival date in the USA. Having said that, in this instance, those awaiting ERF decisions are not a diverse group.
Addendum Two:
The opposite imagery from what took place at the restaurants could be the following: an imperious desk spatially removed from the beseeching people; the sole occupant of the desk would be a person whose demeanor is equally imperious and whose sole purpose is to sign checks to people he literally looks down upon.
His assistant, numbed by years of dispensing welfare checks and tearing apart bogus stories, barely looks up as she thrusts a pile of forms to each supplicant. Her instruction to fill them out completely and accurately is accompanied with a threat: one blank answer equals no money.
This is admittedly extreme in its implied description of the existing welfare system, but how many regard our current approach as one built on respect and understanding. Partly because of irritation and partly because of the level of poverty in this country, there has been more discussion of UBI, but it has not gone deep on what would happen to existing welfare programs. Many would argue that UBI should never be discussed without simultaneously talking about how to improve education, reduce the cost of healthcare and daycare, and make sense out of drug laws and the impact of felony convictions.
That analysis is for another day. ERF is a requirement now.
3/1/25