Photo last week by Stacie Joy
Today, we're starting with the ongoing coverage of asylum seekers at the former St. Brigid School on Seventh Street at Avenue B.
On May 30 (link here), we were the first media outlet in the city to cover the school's use as a respite center (and, as far as we know, the only outlet with photos from inside the facility).
Subsequent coverage includes (complete list here):
Unfortunately, the situation here is only getting worse, as more and more asylum seekers are reaching their 30-day limits at shelters across New York City, and they line up in the cold outside St. Brigid so they can be placed back into new shelters.
One way to help is to donate to East Village Loves NYC, the volunteer-run nonprofit that has helped feed people in need throughout the city since the early days of the pandemic. More details here.
where are the majority of these migrants from? just curious
ReplyDeleteA majority of the asylum seekers here are from West African countries such as Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia...
ReplyDeleteOne thing I didn't know until recently was that while the lines outside St. Brigid are extremely homogenous (West African Men in their 20s, 30s), it's in part because it's only for single people looking to be placed in a new city shelter. That was a useful bit of info because until then I was seriously wondering where the whole family half of the migrants were.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, there's also some jackass who has been riling people up outside the shelter and barging into stores and bars to try to claim they're racist. Don't really wanna give this guy any free attention because that's what he wants, but it's pretty gross to see someone using performative outrage for whatever social media accounts they're trying to boost.
Meanwhile... we can't even take care of our own. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jordan-neely-death-subway.html
ReplyDeleteHats off to you all for doing real journalism. Much appreciated.
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