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Immigrant Workers Endure Long Waits to Get Excluded Workers Funds

Plus: Day laborer hot spots swell in New York City, and taxi drivers celebrate a new medallion debt relief plan

This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

City Limits reported that even though New York’s Excluded Workers Fund is no longer accepting applications, some applicants are stuck in limbo as they wait for money from the fund. Some applied in the last few days when there was no guarantee they would receive the funds. Others applied early yet are in the middle of an appeal or facing a second review of their documents. Meanwhile in New Jersey, close to 3,600 applications were submitted to the state’s $40 million excluded workers fund after its launch two weeks ago. 

In other local immigration news…

Day Laborer Hot Spots Swell as People Escape Ecuador at Record Rate

📍 Documented Original
Lisbeth’s family in Ecuador took out $16,000 in loans from a local lender to pay a smuggler to help her get across the U.S.-Mexico border. Even though she had a dangerous trip through Mexico and will need to take years to pay off the loans, Lisbeth said it’s all been worth it so far. According to Border Patrol statistics, the number of Ecuadorian migrants crossing the southern border over the last six months has increased significantly. Most of them come to New York City to day labor, but risk exploitation. Read more at Documented. 

NYC Taxi Drivers Celebrate Medallion Debt Relief at City Hall

📍 Documented Original
After an almost two-month battle, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance reached a final agreement with New York City government to enact a medallion debt reconstruction plan and celebrated the accomplishment outside City Hall last week. “Brothers and sisters, finally the sun is coming for a new day for all of the drivers,” said Richard Chow, a driver and member of NYTWA, to the crowd. Wayne Chen, a yellow cab driver of 20 years from Burma, is excited to take advantage of the city’s debt relief plan for drivers. He was already struggling to pay for his debt before the pandemic, but that seriously pushed him over the edge because no one was looking for taxi services. “Everything was shut down. We could not pay our debt,” Chen said. Read more at Documented.

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