Asylum

Continued from page 3 system,” said Bah. “It hasn’t changed.”

Bah said that the Mayor’s office has not fully acknowledged the plight of “Black migrants,” like the influx of Sudanese or Haitians, during this crisis. “Black migrants have really been left out of this conversation,” said Bah.

Bah concurred that people have managed to find some jobs in places like restaurants or as home health aides as they try to get settled in the city. The notices are making people “nervous” though, said Bah.

Her main concern is an increase in homelessness because of the leave notices. “A lot of these migrants have lived in tents and are good at making makeshift shelters. You have now increased homelessness,” said Bah. She believes that the city should turn over shelter operations to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), similar to some places along the southern border.

Despite constant criticism, Adams said at

Continued from page 4 it was really beautiful to see the way community love exists here in Cuba,” she said. “Back home, we’re really taught to be individualistic. We’re taught a scarcity mindset: that there’s not enough for everybody. But here in Cuba, where there are a lot less resources because of the blockade of the United States, they’re doing so much more with so much less. They take care of each other: it is what it truly means to be a community, and that is extremely revolutionary.

“The blockade was put in place to keep those revolutionary ideas confined to here because they are afraid of the power that it would generate in places like Puerto Rico, the rest of the Caribbean, even in the United States. … More people need to come here to Cuba and see what is out here because there is so much more to offer.”

Mariam Osman from Denver, Colorado, was also encouraged by her time with the IFCO caravan. She said the trip gives her the chance to “see what it means to live in a place where people seem committed to the struggle and seem committed to each other’s needs being met and seem committed to what it means to exist in community and care for one another.” his conference that he considers his administration’s handling of the crisis “extremely successful” given the amount of pressure to immediately care for tens of thousands of people and handle other city obligations. He said that the city, along with Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and Chicago, are being targeted. “This cannot continue. It’s not sustainable, and we’re not going to pretend as though it is sustainable,” said Adams. “This is wrong that New York City is carrying the weight of a national problem.”

Importantly, the 33rd Friendshipment Caravan brought with it a shipment of antibiotics, painkillers, and other priority medicines for residents on the island. Cuba has had pharmaceutical drug shortages in recent years and there are reports of people becoming reliant on herbal medicines and drug swap markets.

A paucity of food and lack of access to international markets have continued in Cuba ever since the United States imposed an economic embargo on the socialist nation in the wake of its 1959 revolution.

Adams is clear on his stance that there is “no more room in the city” and that there is desperate need for federal government support, he said. For him, it was a “difficult choice” but necessary to “honestly communicate” the severity of the situation the city is in regarding resources.

“Our goal is not to increase street homelessness. We don’t want to do that,” said Adams, “You don’t see the encampments, the tents, the cardboard boxes, people living the way you see in other municipalities, and we’re going to do everything that’s possible not to, but our cup has runneth over. We don’t have any more physical space.”

Cuba’s revolution transitioned its national economy from functioning based on a deeply corrupt capitalism and evolved into a mostly state-run socialist system. Cubans were granted free education; healthcare for all; agrarian reform; and social supports. But, to this day, thousands of Cubans who flee the island say political freedoms are lacking, and the instability of the island’s economy makes it difficult to live there.

Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom added that the policy will allow greater flexibility in assisting asylum-seekers in finding where they may settle here in the city or with loved ones and friends. “The city is and will continue to help individuals and families find shelter and connect with services at their initial connection point with us,” she said. “We must then work together with partners at all levels of government to find options for where people will settle in order to continue relieving the pressure on New York City.”

Williams-Isom said that she and the mayor have not discussed closing down emergency sites yet.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, notably tweeted a special birthday message to Walker to congratulate her.

As part of their trip, the 33rd IFCO caravan participants will get to witness the 70th anniversary celebrations of Castro’s rebel army assault on the Moncada Barracks. It will be a commemoration of the