Amir Khafagy

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Amir Khafagy

With the New York State Senate voting next month on Mets billionaire owner Steve Cohen’s dream to build a casino, a recently released report suggests that the project could very well displace the communities it purports to serve. Published on April 29 by the Urban Institute, the study found that the nearby communities of Corona and Flushing, both with sizable immigrant populations, are at risk of rising rent costs as a result of the casino’s potential development.

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Amir Khafagy

It was a sweltering 95 degrees at the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on July 8, 2024, but for Garvey Barrett, a 68-year-old Jamaican baggage handler for Alliance Ground International, it felt more like the top of a griddle. A tarmac’s dark pavement absorbs and radiates heat, which means surface temperatures can rise to 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature. “It was one of the hottest days of the year,” Barrett recalled.

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Amir Khafagy

On a dreary Tuesday morning, Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka found himself in a political standoff. Standing outside the chain-linked fence of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center, Baraka and several representatives from various Newark City agencies demanded to be let in.

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Amir Khafagy

For International Workers’ Day, nearly a hundred immigrant home care workers marched outside the gates of City Hall to demand that City Council pass legislation to abolish 24-hour work shifts in the home care industry. “If we can stop 24-hour work shifts, patients will get better care, and workers will finally be able to get sleep and spend time with their family,” said Cai Qiong Liu, a 68-year-old home care attendant from China.

1 month ago | documentedny.com | Amir Khafagy

Every year, on the first of May, working people across the world celebrate International Workers’ Day, honoring past and future labor victories. This year, workers have yet another victory to celebrate. More than 100 mostly immigrant building cleaners, who worked tirelessly through the COVID-19 pandemic at Con Edison facilities across New York City, have won their first-ever union contract today, joining the largest property service workers union in the country, 32BJ SEIU.