By: Claire Zhou

Many migrants escaped their homes in NYC to find new shelter. Johnson Coronel from Albany left his home with his brother to escape violence. They lived in shelters, including one in Brownsville and the other in San Antonio. But a lot of times there was no room.

Over 60,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in New York City in the last year. Officials say that the shelters are overwhelmed, and are now sending people to nearby communities.

The ethnicity of people in need has affected them, too. “I’ve always overheard people talk badly about Hispanics,” Efren Rojas, a mechanic in Rockland County, N.Y., says, “No matter where you come from, your family can be here for hundreds of years, they will still see you as from another country. Your skin is a little dark, and you will make people uncomfortable.”

According to the 2022 U.S. Census, Rockland’s population is 78% white and nearly 19% Latino. It also recently has received migrants and asylum seekers from New York City.

People who entered the U.S. recently as migrants or asylum seekers have been screened by immigration authorities and are allowed to continue their cases from within the U.S. But some people don’t trust the system.

Immigrants and asylum seekers move from place to place, hoping there is a place that they can finally call “home.”