The COVID-19 pandemic forced them from the shadows across Queens and led them to Albany one year later to fight for financial relief on behalf of hundreds of thousands of workers who were excluded from federal or state income support, forcing them to join food lines to feed their families.
They are called the excluded workers, and due to their political action since the start of the pandemic, they are now included in the $212 billion state budget deal that will establish a $2.1 billion fund for undocumented immigrants who have not received aid such as stimulus checks or federal unemployment benefits during the pandemic, even though studies show that they pay billions of dollars in taxes each year.
