Sunday February 4, around noon. Volunteers from the EVLovesNYC association are busy in the kitchen of a small synagogue in the East Village, in southern Manhattan. They prepare hot meals for hundreds of migrants who wait patiently on the sidewalk. Most came from West Africa – Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea, etc. – via the southern border of the United States. “America is a country of democrats. We need this protection», says Mamadou Diallo, a Guinean met there.
Like many other young men in the queue, he is Fulani, a population persecuted in his country by a rival ethnic group. To arrive in the United States, preferred to Europe where migration policy has tightened, he made a long journey. Without the possibility of arriving in the United States by air, where authorization to stay in the country is necessary, he had to choose another, more dangerous route. First from Guinea, he went to Istanbul, then to Bogota (Colombia), before heading north to the United States by land, bus and on foot.
Thousands of West Africans arrive in New York
On the way, he was arrested by Mexican police, who took him back to neighboring Guatemala. «It wasted my time and money», but he ended up entering American soil through Arizona, where he was taken in by immigration authorities as an asylum seeker.
«Some of our friends were killed on the way by traffickers. Others have been tortured, insulted, thrown into dungeons to force our parents to pay ransoms, even though they themselves are pooradds Madiam, another Guinean. With everything we’ve been through, I didn’t expect to be alive today. »
In the shadow of the massive Hispanic immigration that has arrived in New York in recent months, thousands of West Africans like him are also trying to find a place for themselves. But, unlike the South American populations supported by numerous associations, there is a shortage of French-speaking interpreters and translators. «These migrants are very intelligent and courageous, but they do not know how to speak English. They are therefore invisible», regrets Frenchwoman Nathalie Sann Regnault, member of EVLovesNYC.
A deleterious political climate
Their situation is all the more difficult since the Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has decided to shorten the time they can spend in a home to one month (compared to two previously). Objective: to reduce the pressure on these structures, overwhelmed by arrivals (161,000 since spring 2022). While waiting to be assigned to another shelter, which can take time, they are forced to sleep on the streets or knock on church doors.
Added to this is the deleterious political climate. In Washington, the Senate must decide, Wednesday February 7, whether or not to examine a bill to reduce illegal immigration. In particular, it would make it possible to automatically expel any new arrivals to the territory when the number of unauthorized entries exceeds the threshold of 5,000 per day over a week. But this text, which also plans to release aid for Ukraine and Israel, is the subject of resistance in both parties. Including from Donald Trump, accused of wanting to avoid giving Joe Biden a victory in this sensitive border issue before the presidential election next November.
Seen from the East Village, political games seem distant. Some Africans met on Sunday did not know where they were going to sleep that evening. Even filing an asylum application, a sine qua non condition for obtaining a work permit, has become complicated. «Public defenders are overwhelmed. We are now told to contact private lawyers, but it costs $5,000 (4 600 €) ! We don’t have any money», says a man.
While waiting to be able to work legally, Mamadou Diallo collects empty cans and bottles which he takes to recycling stations. He receives 5 cents (€0.046) per item. «My family back home keeps me goinghe explains. We want to work in the United States, but if I was safe in Guinea, I would go back. »
2024-02-07 12:31:35
#York #invisible #plight #West #African #migrants
