New York City, NY: New York City has started a campaign to stop migrant kids from selling candy in the subways and on the streets. However, migrant parents say they need the kids to help make ends meet.
Staff from the city, the NYPD, and the MTA started handing out flyers this week in Spanish and an Ecuadorean dialect to help migrant parents find children’s services so that the smallest asylum seekers can stay in school and not beg for candy on the streets.
The leaflets also make it clear that selling things without a pass is against the law.
A spokeswoman for City Hall, Kayla Mamelak, said in a statement, “The health and safety of everyone, especially children, is always our top priority.” That’s why they are “expanding outreach to make sure every migrant parent knows about the support available for their children.”
In the past few years, as many asylum seekers as possible have come to the five boroughs, small migrants have become common in subway stops and on street corners selling sweets.
Jose Prado, a 53-year-old immigrant from Mexico, used to work in textiles but now sells candy and “churros,” a Latin American baked dessert made with fired dough.
He said kids can make straphangers feel good, so he is trying to bring his own kids to the US to help sell the sweet treat. He can make up to $80 a day this way.
“My kids are all back in Mexico, but kids and parents with kids make the most money,” he said.
He said he was living in a shelter in the city, but “conditions were awful.” He now lives in the Bronx with four other guys in an apartment.
Since the first wave of migrants came to New York in the spring of 2022, more than 190,000 have come. More than 64,000 are currently staying in city shelters at taxpayers’ cost.
A lot of them have found illegal work bringing food, while others have turned to panhandling.
