It is Monday morning, and I am at the Migrant Center of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Manhattan, one of a team of volunteers readying ourselves to welcome some of New York City’s newest neighbours. My mind reaches back over the decades to the French I tried to acquire in high school, grateful to be able to turn to Google-translate to fill in the ample gaps. I will meet a Haitian man this week. Last time I sat in this chair, my new neighbour was from Senegal.
The story of the journey each one has made, so often in the face of horrific violence, fleeing from one country to another in a perilous effort to survive, leaves me in awe. Impelled by desperation and a courageous determination, the migrant sits beside me now, channeling hope into the complex 12-page application for asylum in front of us. It’s an arduous procedure, taxing both our patience at times. We take the draft back and forth to the center’s advisers numerous times before it is deemed sufficiently prepared for filing.
While it may be years before the overwhelmed immigration courts are ready to consider the application, and a positive outcome is not guaranteed, the filing itself starts the 150-day countdown to the possibility of applying for employment authorization. Our day’s work has ended. I wish my new neighbour well and make my way back to a safe and comfortable home.
Franciscan Friar, Julian Jagudillo, stood at the forefront of the launching of the Migrant Center over a decade ago, transforming what had become a defunct Immigration Center into a place that would welcome immigrants and undocumented persons, offer social assistance, and seek to advocate for their rights and protection.1
The unprecedented volume of migrants arriving in New York City over the past year, however, drawn in part by the city’s decades-old “right to shelter” policy, exceeded all expectations. Late last year, the shelter system reached a point of collapse.2 As the number of migrants has continued to grow, Fr Julian responded, adding to the cadre of volunteers trained to assist newcomers with asylum and work authorization applications.
Known for the “busiest basement in Jackson Heights,” Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo, the Migrant Center’s go-to lawyer for our numerous questions, is another beacon of hospitality for newcomers. In response to the migrant crisis, Nuala began a free legal clinic which operates three days a week from the basement of her home. A recent recipient of the Lehrer Award for Community Well-Being, she and her team of volunteers have already helped 2000 families apply for asylum and begin finding their feet.3
Just before leaving the Migrant Center, I am introduced to the volunteer with whom I will be partnered next week – a Chinese translator. We will be ready to welcome our newest neighbour.
1 Carol Tanjutco, “Migrant Center Launched in New York City,” INQUIRER.net US Bureau, November 9, 2013, https://globalnation.inquirer.net/89935/migrant-center-launched-in-new-york-city .
2 Gwynne Hogan, “New York’s ‘Right to Shelter’ No Longer Exists for Thousands of Migrants,” December 18, 2023, https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/12/18/nyc-right-to-shelter-no-longer-exists/ .
3 Eric Klinenberg, “The Busiest Basement in Jackson Heights,” Intelligencer, February 6, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/eric-klinenberg-2020-covid-book-excerpt.html .
Claudia Stecker is a Sister of Our Lady of the Missions (RNDM). She was missioned to the Philippines in 1997 and worked as an educator, first, in Cotabato, at Notre Dame University, and, later, in Manila, at Asian Social Institute. Her subject areas included pastoral sociology, leadership, music and education. Claudia was also employed by Kuya Center for Street Children where she took part in establishing a microfinance initiative among urban poor families. Over the years, Claudia served the congregation, too, in leadership, formation and finance management, returning to Canada in 2021. From 2023, she has been missioned to New York, USA, where she serves as a host community member in a LifeWay Network safehouse for women survivors of human trafficking.
Thank you for this multi-faceted glimpse of your service at the Migrant Center in Manhattan. You paint a moving picture of the Center’s work and spirit. I am struck by your presence – reaching back for high-school French to assist French-speakers from far away who are so often “fleeing from one country to another in a perilous effort to survive”. I am also grateful for the many people you introduce to us, who are part of this caring network that has grown out of St. Francis parish.
Claudia, I am deeply touched by the insight that you are clearly a part of a community bringing healing and hope to your “new neighbours” at a point in their lives when they must be at the very end of hoping that life can get better. Thank you for your vivid description of this holy work anchored in Love.