NEW YORK - As the death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rise, a new initiative is helping Mexican immigrants living in the United States deal with issues of end-of-life planning.

Hispanic Americans are 18% of the U.S. population, but account for 25% of COVID deaths, adding extra urgency to things like advance directives for end-of-life care.

Patricia A. González-Portillo is National Latino Communications and Constituency Director with the organization Compassion & Choices. She says the collaboration with a national health outreach program from the Mexican Consulate should help reduce disparities in end-of-life planning and health care that negatively impact the immigrant community.

"We can catch this horrible virus that can kill us," says González-Portillo. "Are we going to wait 'til that happens before we have the conversation with our family about what I want in case I die from this illness?"

Compassion & Choices has assembled a free, bilingual COVID-19 toolkit, which is available online at 'CompassionandChoices.org.'

Maria Otero, Compassion & Choice's national constituency manager, points out there are Hispanic cultural values - such as the importance of family involvement and the influence of religion - that affect behavior at the end of life. And there are cultural barriers, too.

"There's not a word in Spanish about advance directives. We don't have a word for 'hospice,'" says Otero. "So, often we are perceived like we are not very assertive to what we want at the end of life."

She adds that the pandemic represents an opportunity to start important conversations among families about a topic that most people prefer to avoid.

Because COVID-19 is so contagious, currently incurable and the symptoms can advance quickly, González-Portillo stresses that everyone should complete an advance directive.

"That clearly details what the person wishes for at the end of life," says González-Portillo. "So that family members are not left with this task of guessing, 'What would my brother want?'"

She says without an advance directive, hospitals often are forced to make decisions about medical interventions and treatment that may not be what the patient would want.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Faith leaders are urging tobacco companies to support migrant workers employed by their contract farms.

A group of clergy will meet next week with representatives from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company about North Carolina farmworkers' right to organize for better wages and working conditions without retaliation.

Julie Taylor, executive director of the Raleigh-based National Farm Worker Ministry, said advocates want British American Tobacco, R.J. Reynolds parent company, to negotiate a memorandum of understanding which would guarantee freedom of association without retaliation and ban contract growers and H2A farm labor contractors from retaliating against farmworkers.

"If they wanted to sign union cards, if they wanted to advocate for higher wages, if they wanted to organize for better living or working conditions," Taylor outlined.

In a statement responding to a letter written by faith leaders earlier this year, R.J. Reynolds said employers must not retaliate against workers for exercising their rights and appreciates the upcoming meeting as a chance to describe its supply-chain responsibility program.

Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee for the AFL-CIO, which represents migrant farmworkers in the Midwest and South, including more than 6,000 workers in North Carolina, explained migrant workers have little recourse because they have been left out of federal labor laws.

He added current North Carolina law makes it illegal for farmers to deduct voluntary union dues from their paychecks, and also prohibits workers from reaching a legal settlement as part of a union agreement.

"Based on the historic abuse, exploitation of agricultural workers in North Carolina, excluded from major labor laws that would protect them and give them the right to speak for themselves," Velasquez asserted.

He added the abuses faced by tobacco farmworkers are well-documented, including inadequate housing, pesticide and nicotine poisoning, wage theft and long work hours without breaks in extreme temperatures.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Refugee advocates are cheering a decision by an immigration judge to terminate deportation orders for a Minnesota man, who had sought to clear a criminal conviction from his youth.

His supporters hope it renews interest in changing some key policies.

Ge Vang, a Permanent Legal Resident, came to the U.S. with his family from Southeast Asia as a young child. As a teen, Vang had an encounter with the law and took a plea deal, not knowing the ramifications tied to federal law changes.

Jenny Srey, senior manager for civic power for the Coalition of Asian-American Leaders (CAAL), said like so many other refugees, he became a productive member of his community, but eventually faced the risk of being separated from his wife and kids.

"Families are tagged with a label and not really looked at holistically or seen as how valuable they are in the community," Srey asserted.

After he was flagged for deportation, Vang's conviction eventually was vacated, with the backing of the Ramsey County attorney, through a post-conviction relief petition.

In the next legislative session, the group CAAL hopes Minnesota lawmakers reconsider a bill to expand the scope of the law, allowing people to seek a review of their conviction. The bill has bi-partisan support, but has been mired in a legislative logjam.

Srey contended it is important to add a new circumstance under the law, one centered around people facing deportation who felt their conviction stemmed from substandard legal advice.

She noted many individuals caught up in the system speak little to no English, and have to plead their case while their family is left in turmoil.

"Sometimes people have lost their jobs because they haven't been able to get the proper documentation in time because it takes a long time," Srey explained.

Supporters of the law change say deporting someone such as Vang to the country they were born in creates even more personal challenges because many of these refugees are long accustomed to life in America. They argued these individuals have little recollection of life in their native country, and would have trouble adapting, in addition to being separated from their family.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The deadline for public comments on proposed rule changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is Nov. 29.

Advocates say it is important for students, employers and communities affected by the policy designed to protect immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, to submit their input.

Jazmin Ramirez, Latinx community organizer, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, pointed out among the changes proposed by the Biden administration, individuals could apply for deferred action or employment authorization separately, which would reduce the cost of the application process.

"People can apply for a work permit if they want to, but they don't have to do it," Ramirez explained.

Comments must be submitted online through a federal portal.

The move follows a decision earlier this year by a federal court in Texas, which ruled DACA was unlawful.

Ramirez noted while the federal government has appealed the court ruling, the proposed changes are an attempt to square it with existing legislation. She also emphasized while new applications are no longer being accepted, DACA renewals still are being processed.

The new rule would clarify deferred action granted under DACA would make a person, quote, "lawfully present" but would not authorize them to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.

Ramirez added although advocacy groups welcome the proposed changes, she believes they are only a stopgap solution.

"The only way that we are going to get a permanent solution, without the fear or the constant battling back and forth in courts that the program will end, will be through a pathway to citizenship," Ramirez contended.

Over the past decade, more than 835,000 individuals who arrived in the U.S. as children have been granted DACA status. A 2020 poll found more than 70% of Americans support giving DACA recipients a pathway to citizenship.