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The Cashman Center is big, and so is the sound of mariachi.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, a six-piece band filled the post-shot observation area of the COVID-19 vaccine megasite with bold brass and string sounds, brightening the mood and pulling heads up from phones. Clinic organizer Jon Klassen sought out performers to give the spartan space more life and put artists back to work, and his selection of a mariachi ensemble was no coincidence.
It was an appeal to Latinos, the most overrepresented group in coronavirus infections but among the least vaccinated, and especially toward some of the most vulnerable among them, those living in the U.S. without authorization.
Health officials want anyone who lives and works in the valley vaccinated. Vaccination “is apolitical. There’s no threat of harassment or detainment” at clinics like Cashman, Klassen said.
Undocumented immigrants once unsure of their ability to get the COVID-19 vaccine are now replacing fears of exposure to the government with the same motivations that any resident or citizen has in getting protected from the coronavirus.
They want to visit with family or go out and socialize. They want the vaccine, and, with assurances of their privacy and comfort and assistance in getting over language and technology hurdles, they’re getting it.
“We’ve just come through an incredibly anti-immigrant administration, and a lot of those fears do still exist,” said Bliss Requa-Trautz, director of Arriba Las Vegas Worker Center, an organization that advocates for labor and migrant rights.
“It’s going to take time to overcome those barriers and that fear. Nonetheless, we’re seeing that folks do want to get vaccinated. Even in cases where folks think that concern may still exist, I’ve heard people articulate it’s better to be healthy and vaccinated, even if you are putting yourself at risk for immigration.”
There’s no data on how many undocumented immigrants have received the vaccine because the state doesn’t track immigration status of shot recipients. But they represent about 7% of the Nevada population, according to the UNLV Immigration Law Clinic. That’s a large chunk of the 70% of the population that epidemiologists say need to be recovered from or inoculated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity against the virus.
Astrid Silva, executive director of the immigrant rights group Dream Big Nevada and an activist who has long been open about her status as an undocumented Mexican immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child, said concerns now more so center on logistical and health questions.
The Trump-era public charge rule that barred undocumented immigrants from applying for government benefits and was “terrifying to us as undocumented people” has been recently struck down but lingers in some minds, Silva said. Some immigrants, especially from war-torn countries or nations where militias ruled, have also been put off by uniformed members of the National Guard running large clinics.
So Dream Big runs its own pop-up clinics, which puts trusted faces in the process.
Silva said that when the organization started publicizing the clinics, in collaboration with Casa del Inmigrante and Walmart, in late February with a hotline on Telemundo, she expected about 50 calls; she got more than 300 in an hour. The line to get jabs was out the door.
Similarly, Lilnetra Grady, a nurse practitioner and chief medical officer for FirstMed Health and Wellness, said about three-quarters of the vaccine recipients who have gotten inoculated through their clinics have been undocumented immigrants. She said they choose to come to the FirstMed clinics rather than go to a megasite because they feel safer in the familiar, allied environment.
FirstMed serves low-income patients at three locations around the valley.
“We’re a safe haven,” Grady said. “We don’t care about their documented status.”
Julián Escutia Rodríguez, the consul of Mexico in Las Vegas, partnered with Immunize Nevada for a series of short videos encouraging Mexican nationals to get vaccinated regardless of status. The consulate has also hosted clinics.
“No importa si tienes papeles o no tienes papeles,” Rodríguez said in one clip. “La vacuna es para todos. La vacunación no tiene nada que ver con la migración.”
That translates to, “It doesn’t matter if you have papers or you don’t have papers. The vaccine is for everyone. Vaccination has nothing to do with migration.”
As several states, including Nevada, moved toward opening vaccine eligibility to the general public this month, federal and state leaders stressed that undocumented immigrants should seek the shot without fear of deportation.
In February, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would not conduct enforcement operations at or near vaccination clinics, consistent with ICE’s “sensitive locations” policy.
“It is a moral and public health imperative to ensure that all individuals residing in the United States have access to the vaccine,” DHS said in its statement.
Gov. Steve Sisolak has consistently called for fair and equitable distribution of the vaccine. That includes making it available to immigrants.
“I want to make it clear: Regardless of immigration status, COVID-19 vaccines will be free to all Nevadans who need them,” Sisolak said in a tweet. “It is a priority to me and to the state that all Nevadans have equal access to the vaccine.”
Requa-Trautz said that when people have access to trusted community organizations and institutions, a lot of barriers come down.
For its part, Arriba has brought in medical professionals to answer health-related questions, such as whether diabetics can safely receive the vaccine, and held clinics with fully bilingual navigators at every step in the process.
She said it seems that the “immigration status doesn’t matter” message is starting to sink in, as people begin to get vaccinated and bring their experiences back to their circles.
It creates a “positive domino effect,” she said, as their neighbors come in next.
In March, the Governor’s Office for New Americans reiterated that clinics will not share identifying information with federal agencies; it’s against privacy laws to share personally identifiable health information. Immunization records are secured in a data collection system managed by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.
The office echoed the virtuous and practical justifications for ensuring everyone be vaccinated.
“This virus does not care whether one is documented or undocumented,” Office for New Americans’ Director Charina de Asis said in a statement. “And in a public health emergency, neither should we.”