THE MIGRANT CRISIS

 

It was roughly a year-and-a half ago that someone alerted me to a local Home Depot (168th Street / Jamaica Ave.) as a spot to feed the homeless and hungry. People were hanging out there, hoping someone would drive up and offer them a manual labor job for the day. Whenever a car arrived, you would see anywhere from 30 – 50 people flock to them, hoping to be chosen. It went something like, ‘I need three people and I’ll pay each of you fifty dollars.”. These people, all of whom were of Hispanic origin, were not necessarily homeless, but were probably dirt poor. As far as considering them for our sandwich packages, it also scored points with me that they were willing to work and were not necessarily looking for a handout

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When I started distributing there, the sandwich packages went fast. I could hand out anywhere from 80 to 120 packages in little over ten minutes. After awhile, they began to recognize the car. On occasion, they could be a little over-zealous; flat-out “bum-rushing” me as I handed out the packages from two large nylon bags in the trunk of the car. The process went so quickly that I barely made eye contact with them; only seeing the hands reaching out. It looked like something out of watching a CNN evening news program reporting on a war-torn country, where everyone is trying to get on a bus or other means of transportation to get out of there. However, in time, they began to act in a civil manner, forming a line from the car. I guess they knew that I always had enough for everyone. Without fail, they were appreciative, saying ‘Thank you’ or ‘Gracias.’ Most of them would start eating the sandwich or fruit or drinking the water before I drove off. As I was getting into the car to take off, I was always met with smiles, thumbs up, and additional ‘thank you’s’.

 

At times, the weather played a part in the number of people who showed up. Nevertheless, be it rain, hail, sleet, or snow, I could always count on something of a crowd. When the high for the day on Christmas Eve 2022 was 15 degrees, there were still a good ten people out there that morning, hoping someone would come through and give them a job for the day.

 

Quite frankly, Home Depot proved to be quite a convenient situation for me. I could distribute most of the packages in rapid-fire time, go to Rufus King Park or the Jamaica station of the Long Island Railroad to move the rest, and did not have to catch the train into Manhattan every weekend. Home Depot also proved to be an ideal distribution point during the late summer / early fall of this year when it rained seven consecutive Saturdays. The potential workers were always there, usually under some scaffolding. As for the regulars from the park and the Jamaica branch of the Long Island Railroad station, they were often scattered about.

 

There were times when I did feel somewhat guilty. Home Depot was the easy way out, and, again, these people were not truly homeless. It was only on occasion that I popped into Manhattan. If I had socks, gloves, scarves, etc … I saved them for the park or for those in Manhattan, where I encountered people who were living on the street.

 

I have only casually followed the migrant crisis that picked up steam this year. I’ve seen enough on television, and it is quite overwhelming. Also, in conversations I have had with several people, we’ve all taken the same stance: “I feel bad for them, but I have to admit I don’t want them living around me.” I have also taken the position that we already had a huge homeless and hungry problem in New York City and its outer boroughs. It is with these folks where my “loyalty” lies. I do feel bad for the asylum seekers, but I can’t help everybody.

 

Two or three weeks ago, a friend’s co-worker gave me a couple of dozen pairs of socks to give to the homeless. Less than a week later, this person donated additional socks, hats, gloves, and scarves. I joked (a bad joke) to my friend, ‘Yeah, I’ll give them to the migrants.’ Her reply was something along the lines of ‘If people see that you’re giving food and other supplies to the migrants, your donations will dry up yesterday.’

 

The last few weeks I have seen the crowd grow at Home Depot. I initially chalked it up to finally having a Saturday with no rain. I also noticed that most of the additional people were not Hispanic, but African. A church friend, who is a retired police officer, has often accompanied me when doing distributions in Queens. He hands out his own care packages of socks, etc. … It’s nice to have something of a security blanket, as I know he never leaves home without Roscoe (his gun). Last Saturday, we saw a huge throng at Home Depot. We knew they weren’t going anywhere, so we decided to hit Rufus King Park first. When we got back to Home Depot, we realized, sure enough, it was African migrants that made up this increase. We could see the identification badges they have to wear. Indeed, they were now in Jamaica, Queens. Whereas our regulars were quite civil, it would be an understatement to say that the migrants were not. They continuously cut the line, stuck their hands into the trunk of the car, snatched the packages out of my hands, didn’t express any gratitude, etc. … It was quite a scary situation. A few times, I closed the trunk until everyone settled down. When I opened it back up, chaos ensued again. Once finished, my church friend said to me, ‘Do me a favor. The times that I can’t roll with you, do not come back here by yourself.’ I had already made that decision. I relayed this experience to someone later that evening, who made me promise that I would not go back there, with or without my friend. I cannot begin to even remotely identify with the harrowing situations the migrants faced in their homeland. However, I know they are in emergency mode. And I would not put it past them to do wrong things to survive. I feel bad that because of the unruly and potentially dangerous behavior of the migrants, our regulars who we had given sandwich packages and supplies to have to pay the price of our absence.

 

I did not get into this outreach in 2015 looking for any convenience. Home Depot was nice, but it is now a non-factor. Going forward, I will continue to distribute to those at Rufus King Park, and at the Long Island Railroad stations at Jamaica and in and around Penn Station.

 

 

Marc Taylor

November 8, 2023