Next in line to Santana was Janette Jimenez and her daughter Janely, 5. Hernandez was cleaning houses, but now stays home to care for her four kids. Her husband tested positive for the virus not long ago, along with two of the children, though she has continued to test negative. Though her husband has recovered, “he feels different. He feels like he is not the same,” she said. They are behind on rent and their electricity bill, and have been going to a food bank weekly.
This winter is “going to be even worse,” she said.
Rene Lopez, a grape picker, came soon afterward. His cousin was hospitalized with COVID-19, and Lopez knows “it’s not a game.”
He said he has lost about half of his typical hours this year and has been unable to continue to send money home to support his parents in Mexico. He lent his cousin some money, but wishes he could do more, he said. He is two months behind on his $1,000 rent and his family has been forced to reduce the amount of food they buy.
In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated $75 million in state funds to give up to $1,000 to 150,000 immigrant families here illegally. That aid was largely exhausted by July. Recently, Newsom signed a package of bills to provide further help for agricultural workers, including education about access to paid time off and workers’ compensation, and quarantine housing in hotels for exposed workers. But the recent round of bills did not include more direct financial aid, and with the Legislature largely done for the year and a budget shortfall forcing cuts, more state money is unlikely.
