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TRENDING NOW IN METRO

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WORKER KILLED IN BROOKLYN BUILDING COLLAPSE

NYC LAUNCHES $53M PROGRAM TO HAND OUT PRE-PAID CREDIT CARDS TO...

4 MIGRANTS ARRESTED IN COP BEATDOWN NEAR TIMES SQUARE FLED ON A...

Metro


BREAKING THE LAW AND BARELY SURVIVING: INSIDE NYC’S CASH-BASED MIGRANT ECONOMY
WREAKING HAVOC ON CITY REVENUE

By Isabel Vincent

Published Feb. 1, 2024
Updated Feb. 1, 2024, 7:26 a.m. ET

With stiff, cold fingers, Sambeittou Sambeittou removed the neatly folded piece
of cardboard he carries in his pocket like a wallet and treats like a precious
jewel.

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“I’m looking for carpenter jobs” is written in marker along with a phone number.

The 45-year-old huddled with other migrants from Africa at the entrance of a
Lowe’s in Brooklyn, hoping for a few dollars in tips from customers loading
drywall, lumber and insulation into their vehicles.

Sambeittou never learned to read and write in Mauritania, the West African
country he left three months ago on a journey that took him through Senegal,
Turkey, Nicaragua and Mexico.

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He spoke to The Post in halting French. His first language is Hassaniya Arabic,
spoken by everyone in his hardscrabble village, where he worked as a carpenter
and where his wife and three children still live.

“It’s a little tough here, but I had no choice,” Sambeittou said when asked why
he made the journey to New York City. “I had no idea what to expect or where I
was going. I just came for work.”

Sambeittou is one of the more than 157,000 migrants who have arrived in New York
City since the spring of 2022, with 68,000 now overwhelming city-run shelters,
according to the city’s Department of Social Services. Unable to work legally,
they are seeking employment in the burgeoning underground migrant economy —
taking jobs as food delivery drivers, day laborers on building demolition sites,
cooks, subway candy sellers and cleaners.

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13
Sambeittou Sambeittou made the trek from Mauritania in search of work in New
York City. Stefano Giovannini


MORE ON: MIGRANTS


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   PERPS TO BE DEPORTED


 * NYC LAUNCHES $53M PROGRAM TO HAND OUT PRE-PAID CREDIT CARDS TO MIGRANT
   FAMILIES


 * MASSIVE RALLY OF 'PATRIOTS' AT TEXAS BORDER WILL 'TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK,'
   SARAH PALIN VOWS


 * DEPORT NYC'S COP-BEATING MIGRANTS — IF WE CAN FIND THEM AFTER THEY WERE LET
   LOOSE ON NO BAIL

13
Guinean migrant Ibrahim Diallo, 18, works as a DoorDash delivery driver. On good
days, he said, he takes home $50 for several hours of work. Stefano Giovannini

Many are paid in cash. And while app-based delivery drivers are paid minimum
wage, they are independent contractors and employers do not withhold taxes from
their wages. It’s up to the individual to file a Form 1099.

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Recently arrived migrants are typically unable to work for the delivery apps
because they have to produce a Social Security number and some kind of
government-issued identification and demonstrate that they are legally able to
work in the US.



But some migrants admitted to The Post that there is a trend of migrants sharing
identity documents needed to obtain delivery jobs. So it’s virtually impossible
to track who is paying taxes.

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13
Monica Yamaira Arias looks on as fellow Venezuelan migrant Lolymar Gonzalez
shows photos of the food they are selling to recently arrived Ecuadorian migrant
Edison outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown. Stefano Giovannini

“The biggest impact is that it’s going to reduce tax revenue for the city
because it’s a largely cash-based, unreported market,” said economist Daniel Di
Martino, a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “And the city is
providing all these benefits for migrants … that’s going to lead to worse social
services and lower quality of life.”

Some new arrivals work privately delivering for a particular restaurant, experts
said, and are paid in cash under the table.

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Employers often receive “no match” letters from the Social Security
Administration, said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York
Hospitality Alliance, a trade association that represents the restaurant and
hospitality industry. Employer Correction Request letters are sent to employers
when the federal agency detects a discrepancy in information with a social
insurance number, such as a name that doesn’t match its records.

13
Lolymar Gonzalez’s menu includes plates of rice, beans and plantains that she
sells outside the Roosevelt Hotel, a migrant intake center in Midtown Manhattan.
Stefano Giovannini

“It’s been an ongoing situation,” said Rigie, whose organization has set up
trainings for employers that receive the letters. “The failure of the federal
government to responsibly manage immigration has caused chaos in the city. Good
employers want to hire migrants for jobs that most Americans don’t want to do,
but they want to do it lawfully. The failure of comprehensive immigration reform
exacerbates the crisis.”

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According to Di Martino, “There is a myth pushed by the left that the migrant
crisis isn’t bad because we need workers. The issue is that [without the ability
to work legally,] these people are not the workers we need.”

Migrants are also shut out of most construction jobs since they have to be legal
to qualify for safety certifications and union membership, but some sites hire
them for demolition and cleanup and pay them in cash, contractors and migrants
told The Post.

13
Lolymar Gonzalez shows off the plates of Venezuelan food she sells outside the
Roosevelt Hotel. Stefano Giovannini

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“Legitimate construction businesses will not hire them because God forbid
something happens to them on a job site, and we are not covered,” said one local
homebuilder who also does work on Long Island and in the city. “There’s too much
liability. If we pay cash, it has to be reported, and migrants are not reporting
cash payments.”

Many new migrants are creating their own underground economy within their
community — selling homemade food to other migrants or providing them services
such as haircutting.

“They aren’t going to a barber shop or a deli,” Di Martino said. “They’re
creating cash businesses and not paying taxes.” 

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13
Ibrafima and Mamadou Djouma Barry (right) are recent arrivals from Guinea
concerned with how they will find work in the city. Stefano Giovannini

Monica Yamaira Arias, 43, hawks roast pork, rice and fried plantains from her
perch outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, which the city transformed into an
intake center for recent arrivals. Arias, 43, arrived in New York more than a
year ago from Venezuela, and now sits every lunch hour on a blue Igloo cooler
selling home-cooked meals, packed in aluminum containers, for $10 each.

“It’s what we’re used to eating in our country,” said Arias, who makes the
hour-long train journey to Port Chester in Westchester County every morning at
6:30 to cook the meals in a friend’s kitchen.

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Arias arrives back at the hotel around 11:30 a.m., she said, announcing
“Almuerzo! Almuerzo!” (“Lunch! Lunch!”) to passersby.

13
Migrants from West Africa help customers at a Lowe’s in Brooklyn load their
truck with insulation last week. They are hoping for a few tips, they said.
Stefano Giovannini

Fellow Venezuelan Lolymar Gonzalez, 48, helps Arias sell the meals. She arrived
in the city from Caracas with her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son five
months ago, she said.

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The women said they take in about $300 a day, and pocket about $170 after their
expenses — food, transportation and a small rental fee for use of the friend’s
Westchester kitchen.

Gonzalez said they were recently approached by a police officer who said they
had 60 days to obtain a vendor’s permit or they would be fined.

13
An Ecuadorean migrant, wearing her baby on her back, sold candy to passengers at
Grand Central Station on a recent afternoon. Stefano Giovannini

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“Do you know how we can get a vendor’s permit without any identification
papers?” Gonzalez asked a Post photographer and reporter.

Rigie said there is no good answer. He told The Post there is a waiting list of
thousands for mobile vendor permits in New York City, and it’s not uncommon for
those who have them to rent them out to others for up to $25,000.

“Mobile vending is controversial,” Rigie said. “The number of permits have been
capped for years. There is not currently a workable process to get a mobile
vending permit, so people are either doing it unlicensed or renting someone’s
underground permit for thousands of dollars.”

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13
Delivery bikes are often parked outside the Madina Masjid mosque in the East
Village while migrant workers from West Africa attend afternoon prayers. Stefano
Giovannini

At the Madina Masjid mosque in the East Village, dozens of migrant Muslim men
from West Africa crowded the foyer and sat on the interior stairs to escape the
bitter cold last week. Many had parked their orange electric delivery bikes from
JOCO, which rents shared e-bikes for workers and companies, on the sidewalk
outside.

“They come mostly from Guinea, and go through Senegal, Turkey, Colombia and
Nicaragua to get here,” said Hafiz Choudhury, the imam at the mosque.

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Ibrahim Diallo, 18, said he had arrived from Conakry, the Guinean capital, a
month ago, and was already working as a DoorDash driver. Bundled against bracing
17-degree winds last week, he told The Post that on a good day, he rakes in $50.

13
Sources told The Post that migrants sometimes use someone else’s identity to
obtain jobs with delivery apps. Stefano Giovannini

Diallo refused to tell The Post how he got his job or if he was using the
identity papers and social insurance number of a more established immigrant.

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Mohammed Diallo, 34, is also making deliveries. The former sociology student
from Guinea said the recent change putting delivery drivers on minimum wage for
Uber Eats ($17.96 an hour) and DoorDash ($29.93 an hour) has many earning far
less than they did before.

The change went into effect in July after the City Council passed legislation to
improve conditions for the drivers.

13
Venezuelan migrant Jose Gregorio Chavez Guzman said he wants to move to Kansas
City, where the cost of living is much lower than in New York City. Stefano
Giovannini

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“They pay you $29 an hour but now they limit the hours that you can work,”
Diallo said, adding that tips are less frequent because the apps are now
collecting them after the delivery rather than at the beginning of the ordering
process.

Jose Gregorio Chavez Guzman, 35, also works as a food delivery driver for
DoorDash. The Venezuelan migrant told The Post he doesn’t mind the hard work or
the hazards of the job, which allows him to clear about $300 a week.

He has lived in the city for a year and five months and pays $600 a month for a
room in Flatbush, he said. But he is eager to move to Kansas City, where he has
friends and has heard that the cost of living is significantly less.

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13
Senegalese migrant Mamadou Yaya Coure, 21, stood outside a Lowe’s in Brooklyn,
hoping to make a few dollars in tips for helping customers load construction
materials. Stefano Giovannini

“I’m waiting for my wife and three children to join me,” he said as he waited
outside Cipriani Dolci in Grand Central Station for a delivery meal. He said his
wife and three children had made it to Panama and were preparing to cross the
Darien Gap.

“Right now I’m just trying to stay warm, ” he said.

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Smith Escalona was also complaining about the cold. He and his nephew, Alejandro
Rivas, had stood outside a New York City Enrollment Center in Brooklyn waiting
for an appointment since 3 a.m. last week. The centers provide city
identification cards that allow migrants to access government services, such as
shelter housing, but do not allow them to obtain work papers, Rigie told The
Post.

13
Venezuelan migrants Alejandro Rivas and Smith Escalona were at an NYC Enrollment
Center in Brooklyn recently, hoping to obtain a city ID. They said they didn’t
have the cash to pay for another migrant to stand in line for them — a
burgeoning business in itself. Stefano Giovannini

However, delivery drivers are able to use the NYC ID cards to rent bikes from
JOCO, the shared e-bike company, delivery drivers told The Post.

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The two men had arrived from Venezuela a month earlier and have gotten odd jobs
on construction sites, cleaning debris, Escalona said.

“We do whatever comes along,” said Escalona, 29, who used to work as a butcher
in the city of Valle de la Pascua, in Guarico state, south of Caracas. “In
Venezuela, the salaries don’t amount to much. If you make $50 a month, you’re
lucky.” He added that some months he took home just $4.

What do you think? Post a comment.

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Escalona and Rivas, 23, are living in a Brooklyn apartment with Rivas’ mother,
who arrived from Venezuela more than a year and a half ago and now works
cleaning houses, and is paid in cash, Escalona said. They spend their days
looking for work, and get free meals at a church in Flatbush.

But they’ve had no luck getting an appointment at the enrollment center,
Escalona said. For one thing, other migrants are charging a fee for a place in
line, he said, adding that he didn’t ask the price because he and Rivas can’t
pay.

Among those milling outside the city agency on Thursday was a migrant from
Angola, who carried a backpack emblazoned with the word “Gucci.” When The Post
began to ask him questions, he said in Portuguese: “I’ll only speak to you if
you pay.”

Additional reporting by Kirsten Fleming


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