Sumon Hossain

As thousands of asylum seekers continue to arrive on buses in New York, we speak with a man from Venezuela about his journey, and two New Yorkers who have been helping since August to welcome them with dignity and ensure they get the housing, food and other assistance they need. “The system here in New York City is not created for this type of community, which is the migrants that are arriving,” says former asylum seeker, Adama Bah. “It is our job as New Yorkers to be able to welcome them in this city that is a so-called sanctuary city,” adds Power Malu, with the group Artists, Athletes and Activists. Bah and Malu also discuss how their work is being repeated nationwide.

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

This week, two Democracy Now! producers went to Port Authority, the bus terminal near Times Square in Manhattan, to meet the New Yorkers who are welcoming thousands of asylum seekers who began arriving in August from the southern U.S. border. Many said they were pressured to get on the buses and misled about where they were being sent. This is Ilze Thielmann, director of Team TLC NYC.

ILZE THIELMANN: A bus arrived from Texas. This is one of the buses that have been sent by Governor Abbott since August. And we had a lot of families on this bus, a lot of little kids. And we handed out some teddy bears and toys and food and water. And now we’re interviewing the families and finding out what they need. We’re going to give them some clothing, and we’re going to get them to where they need to go.

There was a woman who had a neck brace, and we immediately got her to the medical triage tent. There’s a little medical center set up inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The first bus we greeted, there was a young lady — well, a 12-year-old girl, who had diabetes, who had not had insulin for four days. And one of my volunteers is a former nurse, and she quickly identified the problem and got her to the hospital. But we have had that at least a couple of times, where someone was diabetic and hadn’t had insulin, people who have not had their proper medications. They had their medications taken from them.

We’ve had people who are completely dehydrated. We had a little boy who had a seizure because he had not had his proper medications. It’s just that we’ve seen all kinds of terrible results from people being mistreated at the border and then being put on a bus for a 36-, 40-hour journey without proper food, without proper water.

AMY GOODMAN: Ilze Thielmann, speaking outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in the center of Manhattan. She and many other New Yorkers have also opened their homes to the newly arrived asylum seekers who would otherwise face living in New York’s already overwhelmed shelter system or in the streets.

On Thursday, Democracy Now!’s María Taracena spoke to a Venezuelan asylum seeker who arrived in New York in September, is now staying with Thielmann. He was apprehended at the Texas-Mexico border and detained for two days. He said he was put on a bus to Washington, D.C., then another to New York City. He asked to remain anonymous for safety.

VENEZUELAN ASYLUM SEEKER: [translated] I left due to the economic situation in my country. You cannot make much money there. I have my daughters, my mother, and I have to support them. That’s why I came to the United States. It took me about two months to make it here. I was homeless a lot of the time. I went through the Darién jungle. I was in there for seven days eating only bread. I got out of there and made it to Panama, then Costa Rica, then Nicaragua. It was complicated. We were always running.

I made it to Guatemala, and then we crossed into Mexico. Mexico was a nightmare. They attack Venezuelans a lot — the police, immigration officials. When I made it to the state of Monterrey, I didn’t have money anymore. I had nothing. We searched for a train that’s known as “The Beast.” The train took us all the way to Piedras Negras, near the U.S.-Mexico border. We hid and ran so that immigration agents wouldn’t arrest us. We saw Mexican immigration in the Rïo Bravo River, so we waited for them to pass on their boats. Then we decided to jump in the river. The water completely covered me. I was being pulled by the river but swam and made it to the other side. That’s when we turned ourselves in to the U.S. immigration police, and they apprehended us.

I came to the United States without any money. All I had was faith in making it here. I would pray to God to take care of me. A lot of the people I came here with, who did so much to come here, died. The river took them, and they drowned. So when I made it, the first thing I said was, “Thank God.” I was blessed in New York. I didn’t know anyone here. The woman who I’m staying with has supported me so much. The shelters didn’t have room, so she brought us here to her apartment. She gave us food. She gifted me a bicycle. She gave us clothing. I am so thankful to her.

I hope I have the opportunity to stay here and work. And if there is the opportunity to bring family with me, one of my daughters, I will do it. That’s why we’re here, to fight for our families and our children.

AMY GOODMAN: Last month, the Biden administration started expelling Venezuelan asylum seekers to Mexico under an expansion of the Trump-era, pandemic-era Title 42 policy that’s blocked at least 2 million migrants from applying for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

For more, we’re joined by two people who are working with Ilze Thielmann and others in New York and around the United States to welcome the thousands of asylum seekers who continue to come and those already here who need support as their cases wind through the U.S. immigration courts. One of our guests, Adama Bah, first joined us on Democracy Now! in 2010, when she was 22 years old and had been placed on the no-fly list even though she had been granted asylum from Guinea, where she faced female ge***al mutilation. This is part of our interview then.

ADAMA BAH: I came to this country when I was 2 years old with my mother. And when I was 16, I was detained for immigration reasons. I didn’t know I was illegal, so that’s when I found out. After three years of battling, I got an asylum in 2007. I wore an ankle bracelet for three-and-a-half years.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, explain why you got the political asylum, what it was you faced in getting it.

ADAMA BAH: Well, I got the political asylum, because in my country, they circumcise women. So…

AMY GOODMAN: And you were afraid, if you went back —

ADAMA BAH: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: — this would happen to you, as it did to all the women members of your family?

ADAMA BAH: All the women in my family have gotten it done, even my mother.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did you wear an ankle bracelet?

ADAMA BAH: They wanted to track my immigration. I don’t know.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Adama Bah in 2010. She joins us now as a community organizer, also author of her own biography, Accused: My Story of Injustice (I, Witness). Also with us is Power Malu, a community organizer who runs the group Artists, Athletes and Activists. They both have been working closely with Ilze T

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