Public Project
Building a Divide
Thousands of migrants have been assigned to 27 migrant shelters in Long Island City, Queens. The majority of these shelters are hotels which were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since reopened and repurposed to handle more than 200,000 migrants who have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022. The influx of so many migrants in one neighborhood has exacerbated the growing economic disparity which has come to define Long Island City.
On one hand you have luxury housing towers rising from multiple construction sites promising future residents spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline and close proximity to public transportation and amenities. On the other hand, there is intense and concentrated poverty among long-time residents living in public housing and new arrivals, crammed into hotels, doing their best to survive, but with little support from local and state officials.
However, migrants are forced to cook outside at the sidewalk or most at public parks because there is no access to a kitchen in the hotel. Their journey was already an arduous one, as some have trudged through the treacherous 60 mile Darien Gap on the border with Colombia and Panama with hopes of finding support and school for their children in New York City and work for themselves. So far, few of those dreams have been realized.
This is an ongoing project...
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