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REPORT

Building Financial Security for Essential — But Invisible— Immigrant Workers

How systemic exclusion keeps immigrant workers from building financial security

Essential workers showed up through wildfires, a pandemic, and a recession to keep the country running. Their labor powered the economy—yet federal relief left them behind. Drawing on MAF’s national survey of more than 11,000 immigrants excluded from CARES Act assistance, this essay by MAF founder and CEO José A. Quiñonez makes the case for financial systems that recognize the full humanity of immigrant families.
What’s inside
  • What MAF’s COVID-19 survey revealed about income loss, unpaid bills, and food insecurity
  • How Lending Circles and Immigration Loans address structural barriers to financial security
  • The real cost of exclusion—and what it would have taken to prevent it
  • A call to policymakers, philanthropy, and the private sector to design for those left behind