Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NJ immigrant fund distributes $18M, but thousands who suffered COVID-related economic harm await help
By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 28, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Make the Road New Jersey
By
Karen Yi
Published Apr 28, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Six months after New Jersey launched a fund for immigrants excluded from other forms of pandemic aid, only about 20% of applicants have received their checks, and thousands more are awaiting approval, state officials said.
The state Department of Human Services, which is overseeing the Excluded New Jerseyans Fund, said $18.1 million has been distributed to about 8,000 applicants. Another 28,000 applications are pending review or missing paperwork, DHS spokeswoman Eva Loayza-McBride said. Four hundred were denied.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration launched the $40 million fund in October using federal coronavirus aid. The program opened after months of rallying and protests by advocacy groups who said immigrant workers had lost jobs and money during the COVID-19 pandemic but were ineligible for federal stimulus checks or unemployment benefits.
“The pandemic exacerbated the living conditions of many essential workers. Many people in the community are still paying debts from last year,” said Jenifer Garcia Pelaez, an organizer with New Labor, a nonprofit advocating for low-wage workers. “The process of the excluded workers fund is very difficult. To this day there’s still a large amount of applicants who have not received any funds and have applied since November of last year.”
The pandemic exacerbated the living conditions of many essential workers. Many people in the community are still paying debts from last year.
Jenifer Garcia Pelaez, advocate for low-wage workers
Loayza-McBride said 100 employees, including state staff and workers from five nonprofits, were sorting through the applications. Loayza-McBride said those who applied and still need to submit documents have been contacted at least twice by email, phone or text. Applicants can check their status online.
“We understand that for some individuals gathering these documents may take time if they need to get a letter from a social services or faith-based agency,” she said in an email. “Applications that are missing documents will remain pending to make sure individuals have enough time to gather and submit the documents needed to prove eligibility through the online portal or with the support of community organizations.”
Applicants have to prove they were excluded from federal COVID aid and unemployment benefits, show their income is below $55,000, and provide proof of identity.
More than 35,000 applications were submitted between October and the end of February, when the program closed. But Loayza-McBride said most applications were filed once the state loosened the rules and no longer required applicants to prove they were impacted by COVID-19. Some immigrants don't have bank accounts, which makes it hard to prove they lost income. Others couldn't secure a letter from their employer verifying they had to quarantine or lost work.
Workers initially said applying to the fund was onerous and in the first three months of the program only 11,000 people applied, prompting Murphy to divert $34 million of undistributed money to the state budget, Gothamist first reported. His office said the money had to be used by the end of 2021, according to federal guidelines, or else it would go to waste. After an uproar from immigrant groups, Murphy replenished the fund with another bucket of federal money with looser rules around how it could be used. Those dollars won’t expire until 2024.
Murphy has also said he will add additional funds to ensure anyone who applied by the February deadline and gets approved, receives their $2,000 check.
“We fight hard to win what we deserve, promises are made, but then the delivery? The need is not going to disappear the longer people wait for approval, it’s only going to grow,” said Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. “At the beginning of April they said they had 30,000 pending review, and we’re still backlogged at 28,000. At that rate, it would take 14 months to get through a program that was never properly funded or providing adequate relief from the start. It’s unacceptable.”
Tagged
covid recovery
new jersey
essential workers
pandemic
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Man shot and killed on Midtown subway platform Saturday afternoon, NYPD says
Police said they're searching for a person of interest.
By
Ryan Kost
and
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 17, 2026 at 1:16 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 17, 2026 at 4:10 p.m. ET
Have you seen this Yorkie? NYPD looking for adorable pup dognapped from her Queens home
Suspects were driving a Subaru Forester, police said.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Have you seen this Yorkie? NYPD looking for adorable pup dognapped from her Queens home
Suspects were driving a Subaru Forester, police said.
By
Ryan Kost
Being reigning champions is weird for Knicks fans, but we could get used to this.
By
Catalina Gonella
Tompkins Square Park is getting a makeover. Some say it's too much.
By
Willow Higgins
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
By
Rosemary Misdary
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .