Undocumented California flood victims raise alarms about discrimination based on immigration status

FEMA aid could soon come to storm-ravaged regions in California, but undocumented victims can't get a slice of the pie.

PAJARO — Dozens of angry flood victims marched down Salinas Road on Thursday to demand respect and dignity for the storm-ravaged town’s about 3,000 inhabitants, raising alarms about alleged government discrimination — based on immigration status — against people seeking aid and demanding that all those suffering be treated equally.

Since torrents of water and contaminated mud decimated the town of primarily agricultural and blue-collar workers, flood victims have been able to return to their homes and begin the arduous journey of rebuilding.

But for many who showed up Thursday, the current means-tested aid available only to some — with others being turned away at shelters and aid lines, or filling out endless forms applying for assistance that hasn’t come — highlights systemic discrimination against undocumented residents of the agricultural community.

Jose, an undocumented resident who declined to give his last name, told the Bay Area News Group he had spent the last three weeks crammed in a double-bed hotel room in Watsonville with his wife and two children, 13 and 10 years old, paying over $100 a night out of his life savings. Unable to get any financial help from the government, he said for the first time since he emigrated to this United States 14 years ago he was “completely alone” and at his “lowest.”

“It’s absolutely unjust,” he said in Spanish. “I’m doing everything by myself and I don’t think I’m going to ever get any help from the government, even though I still pay my taxes. They forgot about Pajaro, but we are more forgotten.”

As marchers walked on mud, filth and debris-covered streets that have not been cleaned since evacuees were let back into town last week, others worried about the health effects of bathing in the water that officials have deemed unsafe to drink. Still, what some called the two-tiered system of help that puts people with legal immigration status above those without drew most of the anger Thursday.

Undocumented flood victims do qualify for state assistance; thousands of dollars have also poured into various fundraisers, including through the website GoFundMe, and volunteers were looking at the best ways to distribute those funds. The most robust help, though, would come in the form of financial assistance from FEMA — exclusively for those who can prove they have legal status.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates there are about 67,000 “unauthorized people” living in Monterey and San Benito counties — key rural communities that help to cement California’s status as an agricultural giant.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s move this week to request a federal disaster declaration — a key step to allow federal funds to be used to help people in Pajaro and other storm-damaged areas of the state — drew praise from some. Still, undocumented people won’t qualify for FEMA aid and some, like Jose, are afraid they’ll be deported if they come forward seeking help.

“Everyone’s lives have been turned upside down the same way,” Jose said. “Why am I being discriminated against?”

President Joe Biden hasn’t indicated when or whether he’ll sign the FEMA aid request.

Newsom admitted during his trip to Pajaro that certain people wouldn’t be able to get assistance based on their immigration status, and acknowledged more could be done for undocumented people affected by recent storms.

“I recognize the imperative … that a lot of people here are not immediately eligible for assistance,” he said. “We have rules and regulations about protecting the privacy of people’s immigration status. There’s not a state in America that does more for farmworkers than California, and we don’t do enough. I want to repeat that … we don’t do enough.”

Other public officials have also spoken out about the lack of aid for undocumented people. Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez sent a letter to Newsom on March 23 asking for specific help to undocumented community members in the Pajaro Valley that lost personal property, their homes and in some cases their jobs.

“These individuals and families are struggling without resources and access to basic needs and many of these community members will be out of work for a long period of time due to the damage to local agriculture and farmlands, causing a significant loss of jobs,” the letter says.

Clutching a loudspeaker as he guided dozens of his neighbors through Pajaro, 42-year-old Ramiro Medrano agreed there’s more the state could be doing for the most vulnerable. He remembered vividly how his parents had to dump all of their water-logged belongings on their front yard during historic Monterey County flooding in 1995 — another disastrous event that prompted calls for aid from public agencies.

“We pay our taxes year in and year out, but when we need it most, we don’t get any of it back,” he said.

Medrano said he was most worried about undocumented people who he said are “going to get the short end of the stick.” He said an eviction moratorium passed by Monterey County earlier in March — which prevents evictions until Aug. 31 but does not relieve the tenant responsibility for unpaid rent — is merely a bandage on a major wound, and that what people really need is “rent assistance.”

“Was it meant to be a symbolic thing or what is it really doing? Because we know that it’s not adequate to help,” Medrano said. “Instead of going out there to ask for donations and volunteers, they need to bring back our tax dollars and reinvest in Pajaro. Monterey is so big and it has arms that are so rich and that pay so much in taxes, why not just redistribute wealth? We are valuable too.”