Many are undocumented employees ineligible for government help.
In the abuelitas selling taquitos to artists hawking animation portraits, street vendors were hustling long before the pandemic. But they are being made to adjust even more because of the recession caused by COVID-19.
“I’ve got something I can do. Allow me to concentrate on money. … But I am grateful to God, I have something, I can do something.”
Many street vendors are immigrants, some undocumented and therefore ineligible for benefits like authorities stimulus checks.
“The United States is a country of opportunities for immigrants like me, who come in Latin America,” said Hector Flores, an undocumented street seller who sells shoes on the streets of Washington, D.C.”We come with the objective of pushing ahead and assist our parents, our own families, because the thing there was very, very hard.”
In March, food delivery couriers and street sellers established a hunger strike at New York City demanding more aid for undocumented workers, based on media outlet The Counter. The goal was to put pressure on lawmakers to fully fund money assistance for taxpayers who haven’t managed to get stimulus checks or unemployment insurance.
“Street sellers are the smallest companies it is possible to see in nyc. They are a real picture of what the American dream should look like for many immigrants that come to this country to try to start their own tiny businesses,” said Mohamed Attia, that represents food cart employees in nyc through the Urban Justice Center’s Street Vendor Project.
“There’s so much work to be done from the philanthropy level, for example, like creating funds, [and] generating financial resources for its undocumented immigrants which are outside in the cold during this entire outbreak,” he continued. “It has been over a year now and our immigrants have not received any aid from the authorities.”
Even with a lack of government assistance, street vendors may still be found scattered across the country still hustling.
“Everybody needs something, there are no jobs, they got to survive,” said Mamadou. “So everybody’s must be setting the table”
