Like many migrants arriving in New York City, Saliou Top quickly realized he had been misled about what to expect in the U.S.
Top, 22, left his home country of Senegal in January 2024, three months after his older brother Sidi embarked on the same journey to Central America through multiple countries, before arriving in New York City. They chose the U.S. because they thought it was a safer bet than Europe.
“It used to be easier to go to Europe,” said Saliou, 24, “but now people say there are more opportunities in the U.S.”
Both brothers filed for asylum in April and are now waiting for their hearings with immigration judges.
“I thought this would be easier; it’s hard to be in the United States,” said Sidi in the Wolof language.
Documented interviewed 32 African migrants living in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan, all who arrived in New York in the past two years. Like other migrant communities from Asia and Latin America, they were drawn here by promises of work and an easier life through social media posts they consumed on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. They said that repressive European anti-migration enforcement and coercive smugglers also pushed them towards New York City.
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Many of the migrants reported they had little understanding of what migration really involved and felt “shocked” by the stark reality. Most followed the instructions of smugglers step by step, with little transparency, leaving them unable to predict, prepare or make informed choices about their futures. President Donald Trump’s threats to tighten border security and deport millions are ever-present in public discourse, yet most of the migrants felt there was no choice other than to remain in the U.S.
But among all the migrants one factor was consistent: a stubborn belief in the American dream.
“It’s America, if you come, you will achieve success,” Aly Cisse, an asylum seeker from Senegal said. “We thought that the U.S. was the king of all countries.”
Sidi was the first brother to make the journey north. He had been helping out on the family farm before moving to Dakar, the capital, in search of work. Sidi said watching TikToks and Instagram stories shared by Senegalese citizens who had “made it” in the U.S was his form of escapism from tensions in his country and home life. In October 2023, he decided to join them and paid 5 million Senegalese francs (over $8,000) to a smuggler to leave his chaotic life behind and establish a new path for himself and his brother.
“Back home, we would never have imagined how much we would depend on each other over here,” said Sidi, reflecting on how the emotionally and physically draining experiences of navigating the immigration system brought them closer together.
Sidi said he was startled after a month of travel when he was detained at the border and moved between two immigration facilities in Arizona. When immigration officials released him and requested an address, he named a Bronx mosque that other migrants had recommended. With no prior connections in the U.S., he chose New York, having been told, “New York City has shelters — that’s why I came here.”
Despite Sidi finding the migration experience unexpectedly traumatic, the brothers forged ahead with their plan and Saliou joined Sidi in January last year.
When a new housing policy was effected in May, and Saliou could no longer reapply for shelter after his third consecutive month in facilities around the city, Sidi refused to return to his own shelter. Instead he chose to stay at the Bronx mosque with his brother, where they slept on the floor in the basement with scores of other African migrants for months at a time.
“I can’t leave my brother alone,” said Sidi.
Rather than staying in shelters, many migrants sleep in bustling Senegalese mosques, where they rise early for prayers, socialize, exchange updates, and wait for handouts. Some work under-the-table jobs, while community members drop off food, clothing, and water.
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Most of the migrants Documented talked to traveled from Senegal. They reported either traveling alone or together in small groups and having taken the same rough route as each other, organized by smugglers, that Sidi and later Saliou took. From Dakar, the capital, they flew to Morocco, Spain, Panama, and Nicaragua, and then on foot and by bus through Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico, before arriving into Arizona, Texas or California.
“It was a difficult journey. In Mexico, I was put in a truck-like container with at least 30 others, with pregnant women and children, and no room to sit for 5 hours straight,” said Saliou.
Smugglers posing as travel guides promote the U.S. as a destination with more welcoming policies like the right to shelter and work permits. As a result, many African migrants are turning to the Americas for refuge. Recent government data reveals that the number of African migrants detained at the Southern border more than quadrupled from 2022 to 2023.
The federal government has granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several countries deemed unsafe including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Venezuela, giving migrants from these countries the right to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation. There are no West African countries under TPS currently. Only 7% of Africans have applied for federal work authorization compared to 32% of other migrants, highlighting significant barriers to employment, according to Make the Road.
While other migrants apply for work permits and are granted them quicker under TPS, African migrants’ access to work opportunities, resources or services in their native languages and shelter are comparatively limited.
A 2024 report by New York Focus found that African and Black migrants were disproportionately impacted by New York City’s shelter policies. Between July and October 2023, African migrants, particularly from Mauritania and Senegal, received a significant percentage of eviction notices (44% and 32%, respectively) despite not being the largest shelter populations. African migrants are most often young, single men, falling outside of the city’s priority population. The city’s shelter stay limit of 30 days for single adults, reduced from 60, has resulted in sudden evictions and increased homelessness.
Many interviewees claim it is their faith, Islam, that they turn to for hope and comfort despite facing harsher conditions compared to other migrant groups. They credit their resolve to their belief that their lives are simply guided by God’s will, viewing anger or resistance as futile.
Out of the 32 migrants between the ages of 18 and 44 Documented interviewed, 22 experienced living in a shelter at least once, with some having lived in up to five different shelters across the city. Others find temporary shelter in mosques and makeshift arrangements with friends or relatives.
“I was not feeling well in the second shelter, but I was kicked out anyway,” said Sidi, after one of his 30-day stays had elapsed. Before an alternative shelter space opened for him to move into, Sidi said he went unhoused for 20 days. He said he slept on subway trains most nights, afraid of strangers and his unfamiliar surroundings.
“It was a crazy experience,” he said.
New York City has hosted an estimated 190,000 asylum seekers since spring 2022. Around 16% of applications processed through the city’s asylum application help center have been for Africans.
For the migrants like Saliou and Sidi who do not qualify for TPS, the “Keeping Families Together” program, or other policies that would fast-track their application for residence permits or the right to work, the wait feels grueling.
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All individuals Documented interviewed reported their experiences with ICE officers and immigration judges had been positive, most describing agents as “professional.” Rather than harboring bitterness at the immigration system itself, several interviewees were saddened, confused and felt manipulated by films, social media, and fake travel guides into believing that they would be granted the rights they thought all asylum seekers were entitled to, and become self-sufficient.
After nearly one year of waiting, the brothers were finally granted the right to work in November. They searched for jobs for another month, but afraid of the New York winter approaching while still residing in the mosque basement, they decided to take risk by following a friend of theirs to South Carolina. They now cook, wash dishes and deliver take-out at an American restaurant and pool their earnings to share a 3-bedroom apartment.
“Back in New York, I lost confidence in the American dream. Now in South Carolina, my trust is coming back. Trump doesn’t scare me. God brought him back. Just like God brought me here,” said Saliou.
