‘I don't feel that we are a burden’: Latinx immigrants and deservingness during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 333; p. 116125
• Main Authors: Duncan, Whitney L., Nabor Vazquez, Lupita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2023
• Subjects: COVID-19; Deservingness; Healthcare policy; Immigrant belonging; Immigrant incorporation; Immigration policy; Migration; United States; COVID-19; Deservingness; Immigrant incorporation; United States; Migration; Immigration policy; Immigrant belonging; Healthcare policy
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116125

In this paper, we explore the material and symbolic effects of “deservingness projects” (Kline, 2019) for Latinx immigrants as they have played out over the COVID-19 pandemic. On a material level, exclusionary policies have exacerbated Latinx immigrants' disenfranchisement and contributed to disproportionate sickness and economic strife during the pandemic. On a symbolic level, they have contributed to subjective experiences of fear, distress, and desperation, and have eroded many immigrants' trust in institutions and support systems. Crucially, though, the pandemic's injustices have also crystallized a sense of outrage and indignation among some Latinx immigrants, provoking assertions of self-worth and sociopolitical projects of belonging and mutual care. Our findings thus challenge the notion that subjective self-understandings as ‘undeserving’ are fundamental to the undocumented experience and show that the pandemic's fallout has strengthened some immigrants' ability and willingness to “make claims for inclusion” (Abrego, 2011) and sociopolitical change. •Exclusionary policies have harmed Latinx immigrants during the pandemic.•Materially, they have contributed to disproportionate sickness and economic strife.•Symbolically, they have led to fear, distress, and eroded trust in institutions.•But pandemic injustices have also prompted righteous indignation and claims-making.•A sense of ‘undeservingness’ is not fundamental to the undocumented experience.