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Migrants bused from NYC to other towns face hostility when they arrive Local
non-profits say they are stretched too thin to take on extra cases and some
community leaders have said more migrants are not welcome.


POLITICS


FOR MANY MIGRANTS BEING BUSED FROM NEW YORK CITY TO OTHER TOWNS, HOSTILITY
AWAITS.

June 18, 20236:00 AM ET

Jasmine Garsd

FOR MANY MIGRANTS BEING BUSED FROM NEW YORK CITY TO OTHER TOWNS, HOSTILITY
AWAITS.

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Juan Carlos, recently arrived in Albany, N.Y. after being bused to various
cities in the US. He is from Nicaragua, and volunteers with local non-profits in
the city as a way to get to know the community and find work. Lexi Parra for NPR
hide caption

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Lexi Parra for NPR


Juan Carlos, recently arrived in Albany, N.Y. after being bused to various
cities in the US. He is from Nicaragua, and volunteers with local non-profits in
the city as a way to get to know the community and find work.

Lexi Parra for NPR

Johnson Coronel hopes Albany, N.Y., is the end of the line. He's 26 years old. A
few months ago, he and his brother left Venezuela for the U.S., hoping to escape
government violence at home.

They requested asylum at the Texas border.

They lived in two shelters there. In Brownsville, then in San Antonio. They
lasted four days with a relative in Boston, before he said there was no room.
They wound up in New York City shelter, where Coronel says they were 12 people
per room. When officials told them Albany would be less crowded, they
immediately agreed to go.


Enlarge this image

Johnson Coronel recently arrived to Albany after being bused to different parts
of the country, preps chicken for empanadas he and his friends will sell at an
nearby event. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

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Lexi Parra for NPR


Johnson Coronel recently arrived to Albany after being bused to different parts
of the country, preps chicken for empanadas he and his friends will sell at an
nearby event.

Lexi Parra for NPR


"It's a lot of instability," says Coronel. "But the situation in Venezuela has
gotten impossible. You can't walk down the street without a government official
shaking you down for money every couple of blocks. We just want to work and live
in peace."

New York City has received over 60,000 migrants and asylum seekers in the last
year or so. Officials there say they are overwhelmed, and have begun sending
people to nearby communities.

It's a policy that is increasingly concerning to advocates. While places like
Albany, a sanctuary city, have welcomed new arrivals, many localities have
expressed hostility towards immigrants.



"In these non-sanctuary cities, folks are very much in fear of getting
deported," says Micky Jimenez, executive director of the non-profit Capitol
District Latinos. "If they work there, they go to work, and go back home. They
are very much afraid."

Local non profits like hers are doing their best to step up, but they say they,
too, are stretched thin.


NEW ARRIVALS, AND THE LACK OF RESOURCES TO HELP THEM, HAVE CAUSED TENSION

New York has become a battle ground for immigration, and relations between the
city, neighboring towns and activists have become increasingly acrimonious.

Enlarge this image

Recent early morning traffic at an intersection in Albany, N.Y. Parts of the
city have little public transportation, which is a significant obstacle for
residents - including newly arrived migrants. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


Recent early morning traffic at an intersection in Albany, N.Y. Parts of the
city have little public transportation, which is a significant obstacle for
residents - including newly arrived migrants.

Lexi Parra for NPR

A "Help Wanted" sign hangs on the wall of a non profit in Albany. Some residents
here say there is a need for workers, but with immigration courts backed up,
getting work permits could take as long as two years. Lexi Parra for NPR hide
caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR

"They're all sanctuary cities until they have to be sanctuary cities," says
Peter Crummey, a Republican and town supervisor of Colonie.

Located 20 minutes away from Albany, the village of Colonie is not a sanctuary
city. So Crummey says he was blindsided when, on Memorial Day weekend, New York
City sent a bus with 24 migrants to his town. He's suing New York, but he says
he's also infuriated at the lack of guidance from the Biden administration and
Congress.

"The federal government has created chaos in our country, by not responding and
making a plan for these folks," he says. "The solution lies at the feet of the
federal government. Because immigration is decidedly a federal issue. It's not a
town issue. Or a village issue."

Peter Crummey, the town supervisor for Colonie, N.Y., filed a lawsuit against
Mayor Eric Adams of New York City for busing newly arrived migrants to his
village. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR

It's a sentiment that is echoed in communities throughout the area. Some
residents even say they worry about the new arrivals exacerbating existing
tensions.



Efren Rojas works as a mechanic in Rockland County, N.Y., about two hours south
of Colonie.

"I've always overheard people talk badly about Hispanics," he says. "No matter
where you come from, your family can be here for hundreds of years, they will
still see you as from another country. You're skin is a little dark, and you
will make people uncomfortable."

Rockland's population is 78% white and nearly 19% Latino, according to 2022 U.S.
Census figures. It also recently received migrants and asylum seekers from New
York City. It was granted a temporary restraining order to keep any additional
migrants from being placed there. The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed
suit against the county.

Rojas says he's not opposed to folks migrating, after all, he did it from Mexico
when he was a teenager. He was undocumented for years - he now has his papers.
But he thinks the federal government should not be offering them assistance.

"I was always scared that if I asked for help, I could get deported. I'm not
resentful about that. I came to work, not to ask for help," he says. "They're
abusing the system."

Enlarge this image

Efren Rojas, an immigrant and resident of Rockland County, opposes the recent
busing of migrants to upstate New York, saying that he didn't have anything
gifted to him and many are abusing the system. They have to come 'the right
way.' Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

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Lexi Parra for NPR


Efren Rojas, an immigrant and resident of Rockland County, opposes the recent
busing of migrants to upstate New York, saying that he didn't have anything
gifted to him and many are abusing the system. They have to come 'the right
way.'

Lexi Parra for NPR
Enlarge this image

Birds fly through the parking lot of a mall in Rockland County on June 8, 2023.
Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


Birds fly through the parking lot of a mall in Rockland County on June 8, 2023.

Lexi Parra for NPR

At a nearby super market parking lot, Anthony Gerome says he's concerned about
the costs of taking people in. He points out that the U.S. economy is not great
right now.

"We can't afford it," he says. "We have too many people in the United States
that are U.S. citizens, veterans of war and so on that need our help
desperately."

Gerome says he feels compassion for people asking for asylum in his area but, he
says people in this town did not sign up to take on and take care of asylum
seekers.

"People come to the suburbs thinking they're gonna have a better life and a
safer environment. Because it's not only a fiscal problem. It's a safety issue.
We don't know who these people are," Gerome says.



Actually, people who have entered the U.S. recently as migrants or asylum
seekers have been screened by immigration authorities, and allowed to pursue
their cases from within the U.S.

But, Gerome says, he doesn't trust it.

Enlarge this image

Detail of a sewn art piece, part of a collection, at Capital District Latino
space in Albany, NY. CDL has a collection of all countries in Latin America and
the Caribbean, saying that people get excited to see their home represented on
the walls. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


Detail of a sewn art piece, part of a collection, at Capital District Latino
space in Albany, NY. CDL has a collection of all countries in Latin America and
the Caribbean, saying that people get excited to see their home represented on
the walls.

Lexi Parra for NPR

The Compassionate Closet is a community clothing drive at Capital District
Latino in Albany, NY. CDL has numerous programs available for local families,
but group feels overwhelmed and underfunded. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


LOOKING FOR HELP FROM OVERWHELMED SYSTEMS

Hostility toward immigrants in some of the towns where they are being bused is
alarming to many advocates and lawmakers. During a judicial hearing over
Rockland and Orange County's executive orders banning any more migrants from
coming in, White Plains federal judge Nelson Román said the bans were
reminiscent of "Jim Crow law. Not that I'm saying it is."

Dan Irizarry is Chairman of Capitol District Latinos and acknowledges the
challenges. "We can greet them, we can clothe them, we can feed them to a
degree," Irizarry says. "But then what happens to them once they try to
assimilate into this local area that's not really friendly to them at all?"


Enlarge this image

A young girl colors a U.S. map as her mother takes an ESL class this month at
Capital District Latinos in Albany, N.Y. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


A young girl colors a U.S. map as her mother takes an ESL class this month at
Capital District Latinos in Albany, N.Y.

Lexi Parra for NPR
Enlarge this image

A young girl and her mom sit in an ESL class at Capital District Latinos in
Albany, N.Y. earlier this month. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


A young girl and her mom sit in an ESL class at Capital District Latinos in
Albany, N.Y. earlier this month.

Lexi Parra for NPR


Throughout New York state, organizations like his have been stepping up to help.
The list of comprehensive services includes a food pantry, English classes,
clothing donations and even partnering with a local hospital to offer
mammograms.

But the program's director, Micky Jimenez, estimates the number of people they
serve has increased by 70% in the last year.

Micky Jimenez, Executive Director of Capital District Latinos, teared up talking
about individuals and their needs her volunteers see every day. Lexi Parra for
NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR

"We need funding. There is no way that we can continue to provide the level of
services that we are providing," Jimenez says. "You know we're blessed with the
incredible volunteers we have. But they're getting tired, too."

A few miles south, the community organization Albany Victory Gardens also
provides help to migrants. "It's America. You're supposed to help each other
out" says Linda Pasqualino as she waited to get her fruits and vegetables. "My
grandmother came here from Czechoslovakia when she was seven. This is all
politics; they're using people as weapons."



Albany Victory Gardens President Mitchell Keyes says he doesn't understand the
outrage. He says, anyone who walks through Albany will notice the "Help Wanted"
signs. "There's a lot of jobs out here. And ain't nobody taking them. So if an
immigrant comes and signs for a job he's qualified for, why not hire him?" he
asks.

Enlarge this image

Mitch on a plot of land that has a community garden and the product pick-up
initiative. Mitch is connecting newly arrived migrants with community outreach
and job opportunities. Lexi Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


Mitch on a plot of land that has a community garden and the product pick-up
initiative. Mitch is connecting newly arrived migrants with community outreach
and job opportunities.

Lexi Parra for NPR
Enlarge this image

Carlos and Juan Carlos, two newly arrived asylum seekers, volunteer with a non
profit on June 8, 2023. Lexi Parra/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra/NPR


Carlos and Juan Carlos, two newly arrived asylum seekers, volunteer with a non
profit on June 8, 2023.

Lexi Parra/NPR

It's not that easy. Johnson Coronel, the 26-year-old Venezuelan who recently
arrived, says he's noticed those stores with the "Help Wanted" signs Keyes
mentioned. Sometimes he and his friends from the shelter go into those stores,
asking for work.

They are told no one speaks Spanish, or they are asked for a work permit — which
no one has yet, Coronel says. With immigration courts backed up, getting a
permit to work could take as many as two years.


Darlín, Carlos, and Jose became friends when they were bused to Albany. They
just want to be settled and work, hoping to open a restaurant in town. Lexi
Parra for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Lexi Parra for NPR


At least for now, he is stuck. Again. No income, living in the shelter, in a
sanctuary city surrounded by towns where a lot of people have made it clear they
do not want migrants like him there.

"We're tired," Coronel says. "One day we're here, the next day we're there. It's
time to say, 'This is it. We're staying here. This is home.' "



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