Using longitudinal qualitative data, we examine how undocumented immigrants in Florida navigated the first year of the COVID pandemic. Building on the concepts of compounded vulnerability and legal violence, we demonstrate how heightened exposure to COVID shaped immigrants’ well-being by virtue of being overrepresented among frontline workers, underserved by the healthcare industry, and excluded from government pandemic aid. We demonstrate how immigrants’ anxieties overlay onto existing vulnerabilities facing those without legal status; although undocumented immigrants were often at even greater risk for negative outcomes related to the pandemic, access to mitigation efforts was denied to them because of policies and laws that allow for—and normalize—the unequal treatment of noncitizens. Findings demonstrate that undocumented immigrants and their families experienced legal violence through the mechanisms of restricted government aid, for which they were ineligible, in addition to bureaucratic delays in immigration paperwork renewals that resulted in expiring work permits for some with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. These experiences further compounded their economic and social marginalization, rendering immigrants an expendable social group. We identify coping strategies that allowed immigrants to persevere in the face of uncertainty and distress and discuss how policies can diminish some of these vulnerabilities and improve their well-being.

中文翻译：

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标准化的可消耗性：在全球大流行期间应对移民法律地位

使用纵向定性数据，我们研究了佛罗里达州的无证移民如何度过新冠疫情大流行的第一年。基于复合脆弱性和法律暴力的概念，我们展示了由于一线工人人数过多、医疗保健行业服务不足以及被排除在政府流行病援助之外，新冠病毒暴露程度的增加如何影响移民的福祉。我们展示了移民的焦虑如何叠加到那些没有合法身份的人所面临的现有脆弱性上；尽管无证移民往往面临与大流行相关的负面后果更大的风险，但由于政策和法律允许对非公民的不平等待遇并使之正常化，他们无法获得缓解努力。调查结果表明，无证移民及其家人通过有限的政府援助机制遭受了法律暴力，他们没有资格获得这些援助，此外，官僚主义拖延了移民文件更新，导致一些儿童入境暂缓遣返的工作许可证到期。这些经历进一步加剧了他们的经济和社会边缘化，使移民成为可消耗的社会群体。我们确定了应对策略，使移民能够在面对不确定性和困境时坚持下去，并讨论政策如何减少其中一些脆弱性并改善他们的福祉。