Lorena Duarte of Palisades Park hasn't cleaned houses in more than two weeks. She's afraid to go to work and bring the COVID-19 virus home to a daughter who had a lung operation a few years ago.

Javier Martinez of Kearny said all his landscaping jobs have dried up. He has searched for other work but hasn't been successful.

"The clients that give us work, they have closed their businesses and stopped their projects, and they left us up in the air,'' said Martinez, who works in Montclair, Verona and West Orange. "There is no work, and we have rent coming up."

The $2 trillion stimulus package passed by Washington last month was intended to help displaced workers stay afloat even as the coronavirus shuts down the economy. But for immigrant laborers like Duarte and Martinez, there will be little financial relief coming from the government.

They're among the estimated 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who are ineligible for emergency federal benefits or state unemployment insurance because they don't have valid work authorization.

That has left an extra layer of anxiety for immigrants without legal status who have lost their jobs or seen work hours reduced amid the statewide shutdown of "non-essential" businesses. Many have turned to local organizations for help to put food on the table and pay other expenses.

"Right now we have more than 200 people who have submitted a form that said they need support with food, with medication, and wondering if they can be tested for the coronavirus,'' said Haydi Torres of Elizabeth, a community organizer for Movimiento Cosecha, which connects immigrants with relief groups. "Right now we are just calling people to see who is doing what, and what gap we see in the community and try to fill those."

The rescue package approved by Congress and the White House provides payments of up to $1,200 per person and $600 a week in additional unemployment benefits beyond what states pay. But the emergency checks will go only to those with valid Social Security numbers and unemployment to people with valid work status — either U.S. citizens or those with green cards or work visas.

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The legislation does make free coronavirus testing available to immigrants, through federally funded community health clinics or Medicaid programs open to green-card holders.

Some immigrant advocates are lobbying for the undocumented to be included by allowing payments to those who file taxes using individual tax identification numbers, which are often used by workers without legal immigration status.

"They should include at least the individual taxpayers,'' said Diana Mejia, founder of the Wind of the Spirit, an organization that helps immigrants in Morris County. "They are paying taxes."

Filers who use ITINs contribute an estimated $11.74 billion in state and local taxes each year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank.

Critics said those who are working illegally are getting benefits and services already for those taxes, including free public education for their children as well as garbage pickup and police and fire protection.

"You have an obligation to pay your taxes, and that doesn't buy you into American society as a full-fledged member,'' said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors restricting immigration. "Everybody empathizes with people losing their jobs, but these are jobs that they knew they were holding illegally in the first place, so we don't need to feel obligated to compensate people for losing jobs that they illegally held in the first place."

New Jersey is home to about 475,000 undocumented immigrants, according to an analysis by the non-partisan Pew Research Center. Almost 8 million unauthorized workers were employed in the U.S. in 2016, about 4.8% of the nation's labor force, Pew said.

The pandemic has hit hard for many industries where undocumented Hispanics work, including restaurants, food delivery, construction and cleaning, said Ana Flores, director of education for Qualitas of Life Foundation, a non-profit based in New York.

"Besides being worried for their health, they are also very concerned about their economic situation,'' said Flores, whose organization has compiled guides in Spanish on where immigrants can get food and other help in the region.

At home, worrying

Duarte, 38, who was born in Guatemala, said she stopped cleaning houses the day she found out her five children, ranging from 4 to 14 years old, would have to stay home from school.

"How could I expose them if I go to work?'' she said. "I don't know where the homeowners I work for have been, and if they get it, then I could easily catch it being in their homes."

The first week, it was her choice to stay home, she said, but the following week, the homeowners she worked for in Closter, Leonia and Fort Lee canceled after shutdowns went into effect. Duarte said she would normally make $300 to $400 a week cleaning houses.

Duarte's partner, Walfre Corado, works as a painter at construction sites. He stopped working around the same time, also afraid of bringing the virus home. One of the couple's daughters had lung surgery three years ago and is susceptible to bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses, she said.

The couple have not left their home, but as each day passes they worry more about how they will pay the $1,200 rent for the house they share with her sister's family. Her sister's husband also lost his job, Duarte said.

"We still need to pay electricity, food, and this is not going to end,'' she said. "The work may stop, but the bills don't stop."

Martinez, 50, said he has been working in landscaping for years and would get paid about $120 a day, some weeks working six days. Normally, when there's no landscaping jobs, he can paint and do other handy work. But even though construction has been deemed an essential work that can continue in New Jersey, Martinez said he's had no luck.

"The work has gotten difficult,'' he lamented.

Martinez's partner and the mother of his children, Geisel Gebara, would get paid around $300 a week taking care of a few of her friends' children at home. But the friends have also stopped working, so that income has evaporated, Martinez said.

Martinez came to the United States from El Salvador in 2005 and said he hasn't been able to adjust his immigration status. He said he has talked to attorneys, but the cost is prohibitive.

They are now at their Kearny home with their two sons, ages 10 and 5. This week, he and Gebara ventured out to Newark to see if they could get food donations at a church, but the site was closed. Martinez said he planned to try again over the weekend.

"I have two boys, and you know children indoors. You spend more, too, because they are eating more,'' he said. "We never expected this to happen."

Monsy Alvarado is the immigration reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news about one of the hottest issues in our state and country, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: alvarado@northjersey.com Twitter: @monsyalvarado