#Suzanne : Bidens Covid relief offers Latinos billions. Will they claim it?

Houston investor and businessman Tom Castro feared that some Latino households could lose the money that came to them in the latest pandemic relief package, so he began helping the Ramírez family find more than $ 20,000.

He then helped the family, who own a restaurant, realize that they could obtain a loan of thousands of dollars more for their employees' payroll under the Paycheck Protection Program. It is a loan, but it has lenient rules for forgiving the loan. That put the funds available to them at more than $ 100,000.

The news surprised husband and wife, who have four children under the age of 18 and chose not to be interviewed. The family and Castro met through their work at the charter school.

“They were skeptical. They were skeptical, ”Castro said of the Ramirez's reaction when he added everything to them. "They said, 'This is a loan, right?' No, it's a gift. "

The Ramírez family raised other concerns. They had not yet filed their 2020 taxes. They thought the help was for people with food stamps or welfare. There was a factor of pride and fear that their future in the country, they are legal residents and await citizenship, could be in danger.

Many immigrant families stopped using public benefits or stayed away from them, even if they were eligible for them, fearing that changes in the Trump administration's policy could jeopardize their chances of obtaining legal permanent residence or residence. citizenship. And the first aid kit left out many taxpaying immigrants.

Related: Biden Promises COVID Relief 'Will Drive Economic Growth' For Nation 

"They are immigrants, and the word on the street was that immigrants were not eligible" for the stimulus checks "because Trump said they couldn't participate," Castro said.

Most American families will get money from the latest aid package, but Castro and others fear that some Latinos will not seek all that the law offers them for reasons similar to those raised by the Ramírez family.

Latinos were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, both economically and in death and illness.

Hispanics had just regained income and wealth to the levels they had before the Great Recession in 2008. Losing aid could slow not only their recovery, but also economic recovery.

"This could be the largest injection of capital into the Latino community - by a factor of 10 - in history," Castro said. If all Latinos claim their rights in the pandemic package and the paycheck loan program, the total could be nearly $ 60 billion, he said.

At the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce legislative summit last week, President Joe Biden and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen praised the potential of Latino families and business owners to help drive recovery. economic due to the proportion of US workers who are Latino and the number of small workers. businesses that Latinos create.

Democrats designed the stimulus payments the way they did, not because they thought everyone was missing meals, but to stimulate the economy, Castro said.

Many Latino families cannot afford to hold on to payments or save the $ 1,400 in savings or 401 (k) accounts, Castro said. They will spend every penny because they need it, and "they will pay taxes, sales taxes and help create jobs," he said.

Each member of the Ramírez family is entitled to a stimulus check of $ 1,400, a total of $ 8,400 for the six family members. Married couples who file jointly and earn less than $ 150,000 get $ 1,400 each, as do their dependents who are 17 or younger.

Additionally, three Ramírez children are eligible for another $ 3,000 - paid in monthly allowances - and their child under the age of 6 is eligible for $ 3,600. In all, that's $ 21,000 in cash benefits.

The monthly allowances for the children, if that's the way they are done, would come through a reworking of the child tax credit.

The White House has estimated that 85 percent of Americans will receive some type of payment.

A hard year
For Claudia González, 49, who worked as Castro's assistant before leaving for health reasons, the extra money for her children will go a long way. The family had a difficult pandemic year.