New Immigrant Community Empowerment is a nonprofit that works to prevent worker exploitation and promotes worker safety for immigrants.

They are among the many organizations that are feeling overwhelmed with the influx of migrants arriving in the city.

The organization, which is headquartered in Jackson Heights, has been helping newly arriving immigrants for more than 20 years. Leadership within the organization says that since last November, they have been receiving about 1,000 newly arriving immigrants per month, which is far more than they were previously used to.

That includes people such as Angel Alarcon, who arrived at the headquarters on Monday. He has had a difficult journey even before arriving in New York City.

“I had kidnapping in my country,” Alarcon said. “They stole my car.”

Angel Alarcon says the kidnappers in his native Ecuador also tried to force him to pay a ransom.

“You don’t pay, they put a bomb, they shot you,” Alarcon said. “They kidnap your daughter. They kidnap your wife.”

Without help from the police or the government, Alarcon says he escaped and his whole family fled Ecuador. He traveled for almost two months and crossed the border from Mexico into Texas, before being bused to New York City.

Now 20 days later, Alarcon arrived to the New Immigrant Community Empowerment headquarters on Monday. The organization is helping him receive his Occupational Safety and Health Administration construction safety certification so he can work.

“I can do electric, demolition, all kinds of construction stuff,” Alarcon said.

The 54-year-old says he needs a job badly. He receives his food from a church where he volunteers.

Leadership within New Immigrant Community Empowerment, which also connects immigrant workers to other groups that provide help with issues such as housing and legal services, says the influx of migrants to the city in recent months has overwhelmed many aid organizations helping migrant communities. 

Nonprofit workers fear it will get worse with more migrants expected to arrive after the recent expiration of the pandemic-era immigration limitation know as Title 42.

“I mean, if we’re welcoming 1,000 new members a month, it’s really a source of overwhelming for the staff and for our members in general. So we do need to minimum double the staff,” Executive Director Nilbia Coyote said.

Coyote also says that despite using several different facilities, New Immigrant Community Empowerment has run out of space, and she is worried that her staff will not be able to help those in need.

“Where do I find housing, where are the shelters, how do I register my kids to the schools, how to I get a job?” Coyote said.

Alarcon believes New Immigrant Community Empowerment will help him find employment.

“They help me a lot,” Alarcon said. “I am looking for job. That’s the most correct thing.”

Alarcon said he is looking for an immigration attorney so that he can apply for asylum, which he’ll to do in order to apply to work legally in the U.S. However, he needs money to pay for an immigration attorney, which he needs a job to do.