Will the pandemic remind us that supporting migrants is an effective way to supply humanitarian aid?
By: Kylie Wilson
Tags: Refugees, Migration, Remittances, Humanitarian Aid, Immigration

By Kylie Wilson and Mayra Cuevas

Migrants are at the front line of performing crucial tasks to keep citizens healthy and safe during the pandemic.

©djvstock, adobe stock 2020

There are many legitimate economic, social, anthropologic, or moral arguments for the support of migration and immigration. In light of 2020’s pandemic, perhaps receiving nations will collectively realize that the most compelling reason to support immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers is that they supply significant humanitarian aid to developing countries.

As the pandemic rages across continents, developing nations are particularly vulnerable to its negative effects. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates economic losses for these countries to potentially reach $220 billion. While the U.S economy will certainly suffer and the EU’s growth rate’s decrease, the global north does not risk losing the prosperity and security of an entire generation while the global south does. Lacking in infrastructural strength and access to preventative healthcare essentials, struggling countries are at a significantly higher risk of falling into extreme poverty because of the pandemic. The UNDP has explicitly claimed that without external support, these nations will experience a devastating setback to their development progress.

Migrants from these countries currently living and working in developed nations provide essential income to their origin countries in the form of remittances. Without this stream of income, many families back home will not have the financial help they need to access basic healthcare, which can reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19. The current pandemic is a worldwide humanitarian issue and the World Bank is sending mass aid to developing nations through grants and investments, yet providing more monetary assistance to migrants in the global north may be one of the more effective ways to reduce economic hardship in the south.

Remittances and COVID-19

Remittances make up nearly 0.8 percent of global GDP and account for a significant source of income in many developing countries. In 2019, remittances (totaling $554 billion USD) surpassed Foreign Direct Investments. As an example, India — the largest recipient of remittances — received $83.1 billion USD in 2019, which accounted for 2.898% of its GDP. Most households receiving remittances use these funds to pay for essentials like food, healthcare, and other basic expenses. As is reflected across the U.S and other large economies, the poorest communities are the most heavily impacted by the coronavirus. When people lack access to stable sources of income to obtain nutritious food, preventive healthcare, and sanitary conditions, they are at higher risk of suffering from a number of health concerns; the COVID-19 pandemic is proof of this vulnerability. Remittances are often sent to the most economically vulnerable communities and, therefore, become a significant aid to those families in their defense against the pandemic. The International Fund for Agricultural Development stated that over 50 percent of remittances are sent to households in rural areas, where 75 percent of the world’s poor and food-insecure live.

Despite predictions that remittances would be reduced by close to 20% because of the pandemic, economists have seen a rebound since April and even an increase in some areas. Many of the jobs available to immigrants and migrants in the United States fall under the category of essential, as they include food industry positions, sanitation work, caretaking, and agriculture. While these industries have remained economically viable during months of quarantine and various shut-downs, they have also provided a sustained flow of remittance funds. Although these essential industries have facilitated the continuous flow of crucial support to vulnerable populations abroad, they are also putting migrants in a more tenuous health position. The majority of these positions don’t offer substantial health benefits or paid time off if employees become ill. Some immigrants with qualified status in the U.S do have limited access to healthcare services and government aid through Medicaid and CHIP. Sadly, many don’t access these services because of fear, eligibility confusion, and challenges to enrollment. Regardless of these risks and increasingly difficult conditions, immigrants have continued to send money home to provide for their families. In spite of the hardships they face in their new countries, the motivation for migrants to improve their lives and the lives of their loved ones back home appears to remain constant.

More than Foreign Aid

This motivation coupled with the sheer increase in global migration has led to remittances exceeding total foreign aid in the majority of developing nations. The large aid packages of the UN and World Bank reach their intended nations but may not reach their intended recipients — the majority of whom are the rural poor. Remittances flow directly into the households of those who need them most, circumventing corrupt government distributions and the dilution of aid across continents and NGO’s. By supporting migrants, wealthier nations create an effective and efficient supply of aid to developing countries. Amidst the charged political climate of the pandemic, advocating for larger foreign aid packages will certainly be contested by governments struggling to help their own populations. However, proposing allocations and resources for non-citizen communities could have the same effect at a lower cost. Many of the programs currently in place for citizens create significant economies of scale that could be expanded to including migrants. Governments need not create more pockets of funding to be sent elsewhere but rather continue to invest more fully in the communities that already exist within their nations.

Not only have migrant communities in the United States and across the global north continued to supply workers for essential industries, they have done so in addition to supporting their countries of origin. Even as migrants accomplish this superhuman feat, they are met with derision, persecution, and anger by the native populations they support. The red tape around immigration policies the world over continues to thicken and isolationism has become more and more prominent. Migrants should be provided with the same resources and opportunities afforded to citizens not only by virtue of their human rights but also because of the increased utility of that investment. Money and resources given to migrants during the pandemic will provide immediate relief that extends far beyond themselves because remittances provide a lifeline to the world’s most vulnerable populations.