Author: Loreta Quarmine

Atypical to New York City’s iconic imagery of lofty skyscrapers lies Harlem, a place where the skyline softens and the amount of beaming digital billboards drastically decreases. On the surrounding blocks of West 116th, the streets are filled with African braiding shops, African markets, and tons of African restaurants. West 116th Street, also referred to as Little Senegal, is not the only place where over thousands of African migrants are gathered. Across the nation you can find many communities that were built by Africans for Africans.

A recent trend has shown that an increasing amount of African migrants are coming through the Mexico border. According to Pew Research, many who make it through the border tend to settle in the south or migrate northeast. Of the many destinations, New York City has the biggest Black immigrant population of any metropolitan area, reaching 1.1 million in 2019.

For African migrants, local organizations and established communities like Little Senegal in NYC and Little Liberia in Philadelphia provide crucial cultural and social support. This support from nonprofit organizations and communities is not only what draws them to these areas, but helps them stay there. However, as the political landscape flips with the recent election, worries arise of how state governments and non-profit organizations collaborate – or not– with their immigration work. And how does this relationship impact the future and support of African migrants?

From 2013 to 2018, Southwest Philadelphia’s Paschall-Elmwood neighborhood had seen a percentage growth of foreign-born residents at a rate that greatly exceeded the citywide rate– 24.9% in Paschall–Elmwood and 14.6% in the city. A recent report showed that as of 2022, 66% of the foreign-born population in Paschall-Elmwood are originally from Africa. Why are so many African migrants coming to Philadelphia, especially the Paschall- Elmwood neighborhood?

“Philly has a huge migrant population and you see it when you walk around. The first thing that comes to mind [when describing the city] is that it’s a melting pot,” says Louise Bittout, Communications Manager of  The Welcoming Center. “[Many migrants] go to cities like New York, because it’s popular, and then they realize it’s way too expensive to live there. Then they come to the next closest city, which is Philadelphia.”

The population boost in this area has helped create a net growth in the population of a city still reeling from years of deindustrialization and movement to suburban areas. From an Italian market filled with European, Hispanic, and African vendors to community-based organizations that repeatedly support these demographics, there are many ways people can find community here, which seems to be a crucial factor in why many come to the area and stay.

“Even people in Liberia know Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philly. If you [go there] from Liberia, you’re not going to see the difference,” says Muhammad Kenneth, organizer of various programs in the Condo Reconciliation Group that primarily serves Liberians in Philadelphia.

More than 20% of Philadelphia’s African migrant population now lives in Paschal-Elmwood, an area often referred to as “Little Africa”, and for some of the streets within, “Little Liberia”.  Kenneth describes the unity in the community to be appealing to fellow Africans because everything is the same; the same food, same language, and the same people. He says that people come to this neighborhood so that they can find a place to fit in and feel connected to the community around them. From 32nd street all the way to 72nd, African migrants are able to get a taste of home. There’s a high chance that each store you pass on the street is likely to be an African store, an African restaurant, or even an African hair salon and as you walk, flying above are flags representing countries from all over the continent. It’s a community that highlights African culture and is a place for African migrants, built by African migrants.

Last month, Kenneth set up a meeting with local law enforcement for new immigrants to engage with police in a supportive environment and realize they don’t have to be scared of the police. Initiatives like this from local organizations are providing migrants with opportunities to not only feel secure in their jobs and follow their passions, but feel safe in their communities. In Philadelphia, support seems to come more readily from local organizations and nonprofits than through state or city assistance. With this community support, the migrant population in Philly continues to grow and new migrants are able to gain their footing in a new country.

“When I first came to the United States, I thought they would be very welcoming, but it wasn’t,” says Mariama Korka Diallo, a new immigrant from Guinea who started her life again in Philadelphia just 11 months ago. She says, after many bad encounters with healthcare and DMV workers during her first few months in the United States, she started isolating herself at home. Coming from a big family community to a home with only her husband –and no one she knows or can relate to– she started losing confidence in herself and said, “I felt empty, like a baby. I didn’t know anything. I [said] this country is not mine. When I came back home, I [told] my husband, ‘I would like to go back to my country, because here, it’s not my country. I don’t feel secure.  I miss my community. I need to go back.’”

Diallo’s story underscores a common experience for many new migrants to the US who often face the language barrier early on. Regardless of what might have been a rocky start, Diallo now thrives in her new job as an administrative support specialist at The Welcoming Center in Central Philadelphia, after regaining her confidence in English by engaging in their International Professionals Program. She credits her successful adjustment to the Welcoming Center’s immigrant support programs that helped her find a community in America saying, “I met many different people from different communities. They all had the same problem as me and helped me understand that I’m not alone.”

The Center is one of many programs in Central Philadelphia that promotes economic development through community engagement, English and digital skills classes, career development programs, and assistance for people to start a business. They help hundreds of migrants involved feel more connected to their community and follow their passions with confidence.

For new African migrants in the area, they have the support of organizations like the Condo Reconciliation Group, the African Cultural Alliance of North America, and The Welcoming Center. Kenneth and other local leaders are taking on critical roles by providing services and resources that are often not as available at the city or state level, helping build trust and connections in the migrant community. As the Paschall-Elmwood neighborhood develops its own infrastructure, it continues to support the practical, social, and emotional needs for new African migrants, making the area a true home away from home.

On September 15, thousands of migrants stormed the wire fence border that divides Morocco from the Spanish territory Ceuta after incitement from a social media campaign. Moroccan security sent in reinforcements and rounded up all the migrants before they crossed.

Two days later, violence surged again as migrants returned to the border and started throwing stones at police. 60 were arrested, according to the AFP news agency, in a two-day operation. The charges include, “‘fabricating and disseminating false information on social media’ to encourage a collective illegal border crossing.”

The Spanish exclave Ceuta, on the coast of Morocco, has been struggling with mass waves of migrants attempting to cross the border to get into the European Union. It’s an autonomous city under Spanish rule and a major entry point for migrants. In August, Moroccan authorities blocked over 11, 300 attempts into Ceuta. As Moroccans, and many other African migrants, try to immigrate to the EU, they face another difficulty: high visa rejection rates.

A report from Henley & Partners (H&P), an immigration consulting agency, showed that African countries face some of the highest rejection rates for Schengen visas. The Schengen area comprises 29 countries in much of mainland Europe. The visa allows non-EU nationals to stay for 90 days when granted permission. The report stated that “Africa accounted for seven of the top ten countries with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates” and listed the factors that may have played a role in this. Firstly, if the consulates doubt the migrant will return to their country before the visa expires, their visa is likely to be denied. Immigrants seeking better economic opportunities in the EU are assumed to stay long term, making the overstay claim common grounds for a Schengen visa rejection.

Second, H&P claims that there’s a relationship between the passport power of the person’s country of origin and the visa rejection. African countries that score low on the gross national income per capita rankings, simultaneously score low on the Henley Passport Index (HPI) – a measure of the number of countries a passport can grant a person access to without a visa. They claim that a lower ranking on the index can be seen as a correlation to restricted social mobility opportunities in the person’s country of origin.  So for asylum applicants that are perceived as economic migrants, their chances of rejection increases.

Kenyan Princeton student, Charles Ochieng, shares his personal experience with the process saying, “The Greek consulate in Kenya was very inefficient. The Schengen visa is kind of complicated to get”. He shares his mother’s experience with the visa process, concluding that it can be difficult to go through the process from an African country.

Project Lead of Princeton’s Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) Africa Program, Dr. Barbara Buckin, has this to say on potential social/racial biases involved in the decision-making process:

“It’s difficult to tell. Racism doesn’t fully explain why, for example, Nigerians are deported at much higher rates than Iraqis.” She explains that there’s a presumption that sub-Saharan African countries are safe since they’re not experiencing armed conflict. “I suppose you could say the system has a blind spot about economic deprivation — the desperation of a very poor person is not necessarily less worthy of our concern than the desperation of a persecuted minority.”

An AP News article on Morocco and Spain’s efforts to tackle illegal migrations reports on their signed deals to manage migration and boost Spanish investment in Morocco. The investment was an $873 million package to encourage Spanish firms to invest in Morocco and reinforce illegal immigration prevention in the Spanish exclave.

Tendekai Mawokomatanda, a Princeton student involved in the LISD Africa Program, shares his concerns about the potential instability that could arise in the country, saying, “While it’s good for [Spain’s] firms to invest in Morocco, [this] also allows for elitism, because those firms would tend to hire certain people within Morocco or invest in certain areas that are already nice.”

Dr. Buckin is also skeptical of this strategy as there isn’t enough reason to expect any economic plan aiming to boost development in Africa would lower immigration rates. She says that as more development lifts individuals into the middle class, more opportunities are available for migrants to finance their journeys North. “There is [also] a population boom, so even if the rate of emigration were to decline, there would still be far more migrants in absolute terms”.

Although the visa struggles remain, Moroccans stay determined as another social media campaign calls for an attempt to cross the border on Monday, September 30th.