More than 1,500 illegal immigrants from Africa assembled outside New York City Hall on Tuesday as a hearing took place on the “racial inequities” in the city’s shelter system.
According to reporting from the New York Post, the illegal immigrants were mostly from Guinea and were led there by an unidentified activist group. The illegal immigrants said they had been told by people in the community they would get work visas or green cards if they came.
“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.” [...]
“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. (New York Post)
According to a press release, the hearing sought to “understand how the [Adams] Administration is addressing language access barriers, cultural competency challenges, health needs, and other roadblocks” they face.
BREAKING: HUNDREDS of illegal migrants are gathering outside of NY City Hall. Most of the crowd is military-age African men.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 16, 2024
pic.twitter.com/AHE6PePjAa
Over 1,000 illegal African immigrants swarm New York City Hall during oversight hearing on ‘the experience of black migrants’
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 16, 2024
Some in the crowd said they were promised Green Cards if they showed up pic.twitter.com/94Dq4QTU26
Join the conversation as a VIP Member