Imagine yourself a citizen of a country that has been under an authoritarian regime for the past twenty-three years. You and your family are in a state of food insecurity, violence, and medicinal shortages driven by decades of political turmoil. Would you leave everything behind, risk your life, and perhaps your loved ones’ lives, in search of a better life you may have only seen on television or films? Millions of Venezuelans have had to make this arduous decision and consequently fled their homes due to political persecution, loss of livelihoods, lack of food, medicine, and other basic necessities. Since 2015 more than 7.1 million people have fled Venezuela. The dictatorial government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, have turned a country once considered the richest in Latin American, due to its housing the largest oil reserves in the world, into a “narco state” where citizens are forced to live with soaring expenses, limited job opportunities, and minimal political freedoms. Maduro’s government is not recognized by the US government and therefore migrants at the US border cannot be deported back to Venezuela. The idea of reaching the land of the free has prompted thousands of Venezuelans to risk their lives by making a 6,000 mile journey into the unknown. In fiscal year 2022, an unprecedented 188,000 Venezuelans have presented themselves at the US southern border.
With hopes for a better future and stories “that a lot of people prosper here” scores of Venezuelans have reached the US and are facing some of the same challenges such as job, housing, and food insecurities they were dealing with in Venezuela as they await in cities throughout the US to file asylum applications. Asylum seekers are living in a state of limbo as asylum hearings will take years to take place. Currently, it can take up to five years for asylum cases to be heard; however, this was before approximately 21,000 new migrants arrived in NY this summer. Jodi Ziesemer, director of New York Legal Assistance Group’s immigrant protection unit, said the “chaos and confusion” in the immigration system is worse than normal. Due to the wait times applicants are faced with to file asylum applications and because asylum seekers may not by law request a work permit until 150 days have passed since they submit their application, many newly arrived asylum seekers are left without the opportunity to earn an honest living and find themselves in a “large pool of undocumented workers who toil in the service and construction industries and who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.”
The city is currently home to Genesis, a 26-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, who when faced with a future of insecurity, decided to leave her family and native land behind. After crossing the jungles of Central and South America, she found herself at the Texas border a month later. Genesis turned herself into Border Patrol agents in El Paso and after spending two days at a processing center, was given the opportunity to take a bus to either New York or Chicago. Having always wanted to go to New York and seeing it as “a city of opportunities” she opted for the bus to NYC where she now finds herself anxiously awaiting permission to work, doing anything noting “as long as its dignified work, I’ll do it.” This is the sentiment of many who are out trying to make an honest living since arriving in the city. Alberto, a former radio host forced to leave Venezuela, “has been crisscrossing Manhattan on foot, knocking on the doors of dozens of businesses like a canvasser, asking for a job, any job” to no avail due to the lack of work authorization. There are those that luck out and find temporary jobs in home construction projects, hauling debris under the radar, but “everything is only for a few days, then the work ends and we continue looking.” As dire as their living circumstances of the newcomers in NY may seem to others, living in homeless shelters, tiny hotel rooms, and tent cities, we are reminded of the opportunities this city holds. Samuel, a twenty-two-year construction worker, explains: “I always dreamed of coming here, since I was a child…I wondered: What would it feel like to be a New Yorker? I know that everything isn’t perfect, but so far even the bad parts are enchanting.”
New York City Council recognizes the need for asylum seekers to work and are urging the Biden administration to ease the path for asylum seekers to work legally in the US. As Councilmember Gale Brewer noted “the economy is ready for these workers…they just need the working papers.” We keep our fingers crossed their efforts encourage federal officials to accelerate work permits for asylum seekers.