Shamier Settle

Pexels/Maciej Prus In the late 1930s, my great-grandparents were brave and made a choice to leave their families, their homes, and everything that they knew with the hope of a better future for their children. Their migration north was an act of fleeing constant terrorism and few opportunities for work. When they landed in New York City, they stayed with friends until they were able to settle into their own apartments.

DC prides itself as a welcoming city—one that values and respects immigrants and recognizes their immense contributions to our economy, communities, and culture. More than 95,000 immigrants (14 percent of the local population) call DC home.[1] The Trump Administration is undertaking an unprecedented intensity of enforcement actions to remove immigrants from their communities, from their workplace, and often from their families.

The borough-level analysis gives a broad picture, but a neighborhood-by-neighborhood look gives a more detailed picture. Here, Corona, Jackson Heights and Flushing stand out for their high concentration of mobile food vendors, as does Harlem for general merchandise vendors.