More than half a dozen immigrants have set up makeshift stands at the Jay Street Metro Tech subway station and are selling candy and snacks as they look to cover their mounting living expenses.
The immigrants, who await work permits, have selected the station to sell their goods due to the heavy foot traffic. They believe it is their best option in order to make quick sales so they can eke out a meager living. However, in doing so, many are subject to harassment from riders, while being concerned that they might be busted by cops for vending without a license.
One such vendor is Sofia Paucar, a 29-year-old immigrant mother from Ecuador, who says she makes $50 on a good day selling snacks like churros, fruit cups and candy off a cart from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the station. She is far from alone: two other immigrant mothers and six teenagers do the rounds as well, holding small boxes displaying gum and chocolate bars.
Paucar, who asked not to use her real name to protect her status as an asylum-seeker, said that she needs the money to fund an apartment in Manhattan for her family where she has managed to sign three of her four kids into a school.
Paucar has made significant steps in her journey to live in the United States and vending has played a role.Â
Initially, after arriving in New York five months ago, she was living in a shelter with her husband and kids. But they were determined to leave, fueled in part by their inability cook for themselves at the facility. Her kids were not accustomed to the food they were given and her youngest, she said, needed baby food.
Selling retail items isn’t new for Paucar. In her hometown of Gualaceo, in a rural mountain region, she spent most days selling fresh food and all kinds of products at markets. Meanwhile, her husband worked in agriculture. But the pair decided to flee Ecuador with their family, with Paucar saying that they were being extorted by a local armed gang.Â
Now they live in a studio apartment…
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