The New Mexico Economic Relief Working Group, a coalition of nonprofit advocacy groups, released a new report that found a guaranteed income for mixed immigration status families can improve various outcomes.
Overall, the participants experienced improvements in housing and job security and improvements in educational outcomes for their children, according to the report.
The NMERWG came together at the beginning of the pandemic when advocacy organizations in New Mexico realized that families with mixed status would likely be left out of economic relief programs and support systems such as unemployment benefits because of a lack of documentation.
The NMERWG then began to work toward state relief and local relief to help mixed status families. As part of that, they devised a guaranteed income pilot project during which more than 300 families selected from around the state would receive $500 per month for a year. Of these, a subgroup of 50 received an extension and received $500 per month for 18 months.
Of the 330 mixed status families who participated, nearly all had, on average, two children; almost all of the families identified as Hispanic or Latino. Almost half spoke Spanish as their primary language; 70 percent owned their home and about four out of five of the participants were female.
One-third of the participants came from rural parts of the state.
Marcela Diaz, executive director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, said during a press conference in Santa Fe that the money came with no strings attached and she called it “our commitment to equity.” She said the pilot program deliberately rejected any restrictions on how the funds could be used.
She called such a program “a non-paternalistic framework” that allowed “dignity and self-determination.”
Javier Rojo, senior research and policy analyst for New Mexico Voices for Children, told stories of some of the individuals who were a part of the pilot program. He said one participant was able to buy her daughter a car so she could get a job and bring in a second income. He said another said she was able to use the money to pay down debts and buy herself a cellphone, which helped her improve her business cleaning homes.
“We need money to make money. They invested in themselves to improve their econ opportunities. There is clear evidence it improved housing security. Those struggling the most to make rent or mortgage on time decreased by 35 percent,” he said.
But Rojo said that, despite the supplemental income, health inequities persisted. He said that the participants could still not afford health insurance and living without health insurance leads to chronic health problems.
“To deal with it, we have to look beyond guaranteed income assistance,” he said.
Rojo said the pilot also uncovered “deep inequities” between urban and rural mixed status families. Rural mixed status families have fewer employment opportunities, were less likely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19, their children were less likely to be on track to complete their grade level and graduate and they were less likely to have a job.
But urban participants were more likely to be housing burdened, according to the report.
NMERWG will be lobbying policymakers to consider a guaranteed income at the state. According to the report, more than 35 cities, including Denver, have or are about to launch guaranteed income pilot programs to study its effects.
One of the Albuquerque-based participants, Maria de Carmen de Jesus Guerrero, said through a news release that the pilot project was “a lifeline.”
“And I liked the fact the program showed that as working class families, we can be trusted and are capable of making decisions about how we spend our money in the best interest of our families. I also see it as an investment in New Mexico families who contribute as workers, taxpayers and consumers. My husband and I have also both experienced discrimination and labor abuse at previous jobs. Having guaranteed basic income would give workers options to seek out better employment, instead of suffering in silence, and would even make it possible to go back to school,” she said through the release.