Migrants in NYC fight for American dream amid struggle for stability
Michelle Andrea Gutierrez Ortiz says she is constantly looking for work across New York City as she awaits the ability to get a work permit.
From babysitting to cleaning to dog walking to volunteering, Gutierrez, who migrated to the U.S. from Colombia, moves from job to job looking for the security and stability she expected to find in America.
"Without valid documentation here in the United States … it is very difficult to be here in the United States," Gutierrez told ABC News in Spanish.
The 26-year-old is one of nearly 100,000 migrants that have come to New York City since last spring, some of whom have been sent from states along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2016, New York City officials declared itself a sanctuary city, offering support and services to undocumented immigrants. Texas officials have sent busloads of migrants from the border to Democrat-led cities in a move that New York Mayor Eric Adams has called a "political stunt" and "dehumanizing." Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the busing brings attention to the Biden administration's "open-border policies."
According to the mayor's office, 57,200 asylum-seekers are currently in the city's care.
For many, like Gutierrez, the United States was seen as a beacon of hope away from the problems back in their homeland. But life in the United States – the dream of stable jobs, stable housing, a stable economy – has not been what she had hoped for.
"We're not just talking about the shelter, we're not just talking about healthcare, we're talking about the entirety of the well-being of the individual and the family," said Murad Awawdeh, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
He continued, "Folks are traveling to the United States as a last-ditch effort and then trying to find safety for themselves, for their families, and to have an opportunity just to live."
Juan Carlos Ruiz, the pastor of the Lutheran Church of The Good Shepherd, works with Gutierrez and other migrants in his church.
He said he's seen firsthand the ways the migrant community lifts one-another up.
"In the beginning, people need help. But eventually, those who are here as migrants, they give back to their communities," Ruiz said.
Gutierrez volunteers at the local church, filling out asylum applications, sorting donated clothes and helping with the kitchen. She said she does it because those she helps remind her of herself.
"I'm the same as them, an immigrant," she said. "Just as I needed help at one time, they need it now. They don't have anything to eat, they don't have clothes to wear, they don't have a place to live, so it fills my heart a little to be able to help."
Learn more about the plight of Gutierrez and other migrants like her in this video.
