Over 1,000 African migrants swarm NYC’s City Hall over supposed falsely promised green cards
About 1,300 African migrants gathered outside City Hall Tuesday morning hoping to appear at a hearing on the black experience in the city shelter system — with some saying they were promised work visas or green cards if they showed.
Only 250 people were allowed inside for the 10 a.m. hearing, while the hundreds of others who flocked downtown were left outside in a park, where footage showed them chanting and cheering.
The crowd was mostly made up of new arrivals from Guinea, in West Africa, and were apparently drawn to City Hall by an activist group, a source told The Post.
Dozens of migrants said they’d been told by others in the community that they could get work visas or green cards if they showed up.
“They told me that they would help me to get a work permit and a green card if I came here today,” Amadou Sara Bah, 44, who got to the US in November from Guinea, explained, adding he wouldn’t have come to City Hall just for the hearing.
Bah said he was stressed about waiting for a work permit, which he applied for in March, noting it could take about five months to come through and he does not have a lawyer to speed up the process.
By 12:30 p.m., he and his friends were still sitting on a bench near City Hall, but no one had offered to help them.
“There are many people here and we don’t know how to get the help they told us would be here,” he told The Post. “I came here for a green card. I’m looking for help.”
Dial Lochitlio, 19, who got to New York from Guinea just four days ago and said he was seeking asylum, told The Post “elders in the community” told him to come to City Hall for information on work visas and housing.
A few hours later, he was still waiting for information and getting frustrated.
“They told us to be here at this time on this date and they would give us more information,” he said, noting he was told to contact someone via WhatsApp for help but does not have access to a phone.
The City Council’s Committee of Immigration and Committee on Hospitals held the joint hearing on the experiences of African migrants in shelters to “understand how the [Adams] Administration is addressing language access barriers, cultural competency challenges, health needs, and other roadblocks” that the new arrivals face, a press release said.
A major issue is that the city does not have adequate language services, officials said, noting Spanish and English speakers are given priority, leaving other new arrivals in the dark.
“This is mostly an issue that belongs to the federal government. They need to do better at providing training in these languages,” said Manuel Castro, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office on Immigrant Affairs told the council, noting there are nearly 3,000 languages spoken across Africa.
The city is also experiencing a recent uptick in African migrants, which may be why officials are unprepared to offer them help in their native languages and provide them with services.
“Early on in the situation with the arrival of asylum seekers, it was primarily Venezuelan, Ecuadorians and other Spanish-speaking asylum seekers. But we started seeing more people from across the world arrive so there’s a bit of an adjustment period that we’re undergoing,” the official noted.
Assitan Makadii, who worked for the organization African Communities Together, rushed down to the City Hall gathering when she heard that migrants were there under false pretenses about the green cards.
“They received some miscommunications so we are here to provide clarification,” Makadii told The Post as she handed out information on services like work permits, health care and housing.
They were told they would get money and green cards. It started how all rumors get started, on social media,” she said.
The new arrivals are “desperate” for help, Makadii added. Some of them cannot get housing, and have resorted to sleeping in subways.
“They don’t have nothing and they deserve everything because they are human. We are all human,” she told The Post.
“They don’t have a place to go,” she said. “As you can see I don’t think [the city housing is] happening because they’re all here because they don’t have a place to sleep.”
Food is also an issue for new arrivals from Africa, Makadii explained.
“They’re not used to cheese but they don’t have no choice because in the shelter that’s what they serve. If they go to the pantry they can get food but it’s not cooked food and they can’t cook in the shelter. So we’re looking for cooked food for them,” she told The Post.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Tuesday’s event was a “very important hearing.”
“This is an issue for the entire nation and the entire nation needs to be responsible in the same way that New York City is being responsible,” she said.
“This is a national issue. It is not just a New York City issue or a Chicago issue or a Los Angeles issue. This is a national issue and the issue needs national attention,” Adams added.
Ahead of the testimony portion, the committee members heard from activists whose work focuses on providing services to African migrants, the release added.
