818: Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
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A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbearped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org. New York City, the Port Authority bus terminal, a very cold night a few weeks ago. Yeah, explain what time it is, where we are, what we're doing. It is 11.14 p.m. and we are waiting for a Texas bus. Texas bus with who and his side. So we don't know the number yet, but we have asylum seekers that are there that just come from the border. This is one of the buses that Governor Greg Abbott sent to New York City, starting in the summer of last year. You probably heard about this. I'm hoping to make a point about what Texas is dealing with. He sent migrants and buses to cities run by Democrats, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, and New York. Over 27,000 people have arrived at this spot this way, where many of them have been greeted by a five foot two black woman named Adam Abah. How many nights a week do you do this? I don't keep counting anymore. But what's the most it gets like, and what's a hard week for you? A hard week is every day a bus. I put the kids to sleep and then I ran over here, I'm a mommy. And I'll make it back in time where they won't notice I'm gone. Do they know you left? No. The thing is, Adam it doesn't work for the City of New York. She runs a community center for newly arrived immigrants, called Africama. She's been doing this work with migrants for 18 years, for a long time just out of her car. She still does a lot of work from her car, going around the city where recent migrants are, talking to them in the car. My car has been my office for years, and it's still my office. And there are certain things you always are sure that you keep in the car. I have so many stuff. So organizer one-on-one is always have affordable charger, paper and pen. I have toothbrush, toothpaste, peppermint, because I'm always talking to people. I don't think, I don't want to be known as a lady with a bad breath. She can help you, but she has a bad breath. I have deodorant, emergency change of clothes, because sometimes it's not on purpose, but I spend overnight. Have you had to sleep overnight here, waiting for buses? Yeah I have. I have pillows, I have a blanket. When the very first bus arrived from Texas in August 2022, it was my great-aid groups, like Ottomas, who got advanced word that was coming, and greeted the bus. Not the city. But soon enough, the city government got on board. Mayor Eric Adams showed up at the Port Authority to greet one of the buses, ready to prove that New York City is a city of immigrants that loves and welcomes immigrants. I have to provide services for families that are here, and that's what we're going to do.
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