ICE blues

Sometimes people show up at New Alt who are too old for the program but my staff remember when they were in the same position, and sometimes they bring them up to see me anyway so that I can figure out where to send them. Yesterday it was the first client of the day, a gay asylum seeker in his 30s from Venezuela. He explained that he had been in a relationship with a man who was controlling and abusive, and he had to leave with nowhere to go. NYC does not have an LGBTQ domestic violence shelter, and the system is really not set up to accomodate male survivors. It's hard even for a single woman to get into a DV shelter, because a lot of the units are for women with children, and there are nowhere near enough to meet demand. I couldn't refer him to Marsha's the LGBTQ shelter because they only take people up to age 35. After 35, there is no LGBTQ specific shelter. So I had to send this gentle, soft-spoken man who was eagerly telling me about his work as a chef and how he made his way from Venezuela to America by cooking in restaurants in all the countries he passed through to the NYC Men's Intake shelter, which is a rough place. I also gave him a referral for legal help with his asylum claim, although at this point I don't know if the immigration system is functioning at all. After he headed out, alone in my unusually quiet office,a wave of sadness washed over me as I thought about how easily he could be swept up in an immigration raid and wind up in a concentration camp/detention center or deported to a random dangerous country.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shut Down Trump

Image
I had to be up at 5:30am for today’s action, so I tried to get to sleep early. It turned out to be a crazy night where I got woken up by the weird noises and vibrations of road repaving, then by Connor, who had not shown up for dinner, meowing for food which he barely ate. Then I was woken up by a weird feeling like my heartbeat was doing strange things. And then finally noisy drag racers and garbage trucks. I groggily launched myself out into the early morning, leaving behind a bunch of puzzled cats not used to getting breakfast so early. I found Ben in the crowd in front of the Main Library, and we gathered with our assigned group until it was time to march. To keep from being arrested too soon, we marched on the sidewalk filling both sides of 42nd St. As we marched to 2nd ave, I told Ben that I thought all the remembering I have been doing has to do with turning 50 and the feeling that there is more life behind me than there is ahead now. We talked about his mother and my d...
Read more

Monk

Image
Despite the expect-anything native New Yorker attitude baked into me, I was somewhat surprised to spot a monk in TD bank on 42nd St. I think it was the incongruity of my associations of chanting and ancient monastaries vs the neon glare ad hypercapitalism of the bank. "But," I told myself, "even clergy have to do the mundane tasks of life." Waiting there in line, my mind went back years to a fundraiser for VOCAL-NY that was held at the Frying Pan, a boat turned venue space moored off the west side of Manhattan. Jenn was still in charge at VOCAL then, and the Church Ladies had been asked to perform. I don't usually wear a nun costume in the Church Ladies, but for a reason I can't remember, Sister Mary Cunnilingus and I were both in full fake habits. It was a pretty hot day, and we were melting under the layers. After the show, we found our way to a nearby park and began taking off pieces of costume. I noticed a man watching us closely and tensed up, e...
Read more

Angel

When New Alt was new and small I personally knew most of the donors, but that was years ago. These days most of the donors I interact with personally are on the Angel List, a special list of donors who have signed up to receive emails when one of our clients has a specific need. This runs the gamut from textbooks to work uniforms to housewares for a new apartment. Even most of the Angel donors I don’t get to know beyond a sense of what type of request tends to appeal to them. And then there’s Susan. I first noticed Susan in 2012, back in the days when donations came in the form of checks. Not only did she often respond to requests, she also signed up as a Gay Santa and I was struck by how pretty and thoughtful her gift was, not just the requested item tossed in a box, but the candy and extras and careful wrapping we tend to use with people we care about. And unlike any other Santa,she asked for the recipient's birthday, and sent her gifts then, too. Even her donations had a th...
Read more