Teachers in California are turning over their federal stimulus checks to illegal immigrants struggling without jobs or unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Oakland Unified School District, at least eight teachers at Bridges Academy have pledged all or part of their stimulus checks to families in the country illegally who do not qualify for state or federal relief, KQED reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Bridges Principal Anita Iverson-Comelo and others in the district disqualified from the federal coronavirus stimulus because of their massive salaries also plan to contribute to the cause, she said.

“We are in contact with our families every day and what we are hearing is heartbreaking,” Iverson-Comelo told the news site. “We feel like we have to do something.”

The effort in Oakland comes after the United Educators of San Francisco union solicited 300 pledges from members to raise more than $100,000 for illegal immigrants last month, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

That’s on top of the special stipend California is sending out to 150,000 undocumented workers this month – $500 each or $1,000 per household. The state stimulus for illegal immigrants was funded by taxpayers and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, USA Today reports.

“I mean, I could certainly use $1,200, but I don’t need it. And many families in our community do desperately,” Cassandra Chen, teacher at United for Success Academy in Oakland, told KQED.

“I wish a stimulus package in the wealthiest nation in the world [would] have just taken care of all of the human beings in this global pandemic. But it doesn’t include a lot of our community,” she said.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Maria, mother of one of 14,000 OUSD students who rely on the free “grab and go” meals distributed by the district, told the news site she’s worried about paying rent after her husband was furloughed from his job as a waiter at a local hotel.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next month, and how long this will continue,” she said. “I am grateful they are fighting and watching out for us, because we are all human beings.”

It’s a similar situation in Chicago, where Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued an executive order last month that offers an array of resources for illegal immigrants there, including special benefits through the city’s Housing Assistance Grant program, Chicago Public Schools and access to the $100 million Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund, National Review reports.

The dedicated funding for illegal immigrants in California and Illinois stands in stark contrast to how authorities in other countries dealing with illegal immigrants during the pandemic.

In Mexico, the government removed 3,653 migrants from 65 government facilities over the last month and deported them to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, according to the news site.