As more migrants arrive in N.J., churches and religious charities step up to help

People hang their bags on a fence while waiting in line for supplies and winter clothing during a winter coat giveaway at The Mercy House, operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, in Newark on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

A quiet, dark-haired Venezuelan 10-year-old with a shy smile and penchant for dinosaur toys sat in front of Cheryl Riley’s desk in need of help.

He had arrived in Newark less than two months before with his mother, father and aunt, following an arduous journey with other migrants to the United States. He had been out of school for months.

A painting depicting hangs above racks of coats for a winter coat giveaway at The Mercy House, operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, in Newark on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

He was at the Mercy House in Newark, a resource center established within the Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, to get warm coats and hats during the center’s annual giveaway in October.

Cheryl Riley, director of Mercy House, talks with people looking for assistance during a winter coat giveaway in Newark on October 17, 2023.

But, the Catholic center quickly tried to get him enrolled in public school.

“Can you call me when you get a chance? I have another little boy that needs to get into a school,” said Riley, the center’s director, dictating a quick voice text to a contact at one of the city’s schools.

Although the exact number is unclear, a steady stream of migrants has been pouring into New Jersey in recent months, advocates say. Some were among the busloads of migrants bused from Texas and the southern border to New York City who eventually made their way to New Jersey to find housing or stay with friends and relatives.

Others appear to have come to the U.S. in other ways and found their way to New Jersey, quietly slipping into the background as they search for work and to enroll their kids in school. Many of the recent arrivals are people fleeing economic instability, poverty and gang violence in Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Haiti and Cuba, advocates say.

Dozens of people line up to receive supplies and winter clothing during a winter coat giveaway at The Mercy House, operated by the Archdiocese of Newark, in Newark on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.

Several faith-based charities, including Mercy House in Newark, say they’ve seen an increase in migrants looking for help.

The Rev. Timothy Graff, the director of the office that assists immigrants and refugees within the Archdiocese of Newark, said new arrivals often try a local parish for help when they first arrive.

“They don’t know our state or federal system or anything like that,” Graff said. “What they do know is they know the church is there.”

Helping the recent arrivals navigate their new life is a patchwork of interfaith organizations, individual religious organizations from several faiths and diocesan offices in the Catholic Church.

“We keep politics at the door,” Riley said. “We don’t get into any of that. If someone comes to us, we’re going to help them.”

New Jersey officials don’t track new immigrants moving to the state permanently or migrants passing though as they look for housing and work, said Eva Loayza-McBride, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services.

“Entry to the country is handled by the federal government,” she said. “There is no one central point of entry for many migrant arrivals in New Jersey.”

A spokesperson for the federal Department of Homeland Security referred questions about migrants to its statistics office’s website.

In January, more than 1,800 people who recently crossed the southern U.S. border were sent by bus to New York City, but were dropped off at New Jersey bus and train stations to evade New York arrival restrictions.

A majority of the migrants who arrived at the transportation centers in Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison and Trenton continued onward to New York. But, as many as four or five dozen people were picked up by family members in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy said at the time.

“And I have no issue with that,” he said. “I would just say at the moment, this is a manageable situation and I suspect it will continue to be. But most importantly, please God, as a nation, comprehensive immigration reform once and for all. In the meantime, no stunts. Let’s sit at a table and figure this out.”

A constant influx

After nine years of working with refugees, Reformed Church of Highland Park co-pastor Seth Kaper-Dale said the program he founded, Interfaith-RISE, has seen a significant increase in the number of people it’s serving and a dramatic shift in the population.

“When we started Interfaith-RISE, it was about refugees and by refugee I mean people who have their stamp as a refugee off these shores,” he said in November. “And now, the vast majority of people we help do not have that. They’re all going to need an adjustment of status.”

People who receive official refugee status apply for the designation before they enter the U.S., federal officials said. But, those who enter the country illegally or with non-immigrant visas often need to apply for a legal adjustment of status to try to become a permanent U.S. citizen with a green card, according to federal officials.

Interfaith-RISE has seen an increase in the number of migrants arriving from some countries. A year and a half ago, the group had zero Haitian clients. Now, the organization is serving 1,400 Haitians, with another 250 people on a waiting list, Kaper-Dale said.

Interfaith-RISE, which has offices in Highland Park and Vineland, is a federal refugee resettlement program, meaning it’s an affiliated government program that places refugees in the community and provides resources. It’s supported by more than 50 partners in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, as well as other religious groups.

It offers many services, including a refugee cash assistance program, tutoring, English language classes and case management. It also provides and refers out for legal services.

Interfaith-RISE helps people navigate the healthcare system and has a running online sign-up form for volunteers to provide rides for people’s medical appointments.

The program is within the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation, or RCHP-AHC, Kaper-Dale said.

RCHP-AHC owns and operates 25 buildings, with a 26th one nearly completed, said Kaper-Dale. The nonprofit leases and subleases housing for different groups of people, including those seeking asylum in the U.S.

Ukrainians, Haitians, Cubans and Afghans are among those entitled to benefits, including housing, through the federal government’s Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR.

Within the program, landlords are guaranteed rent and eligible new arrivals are housed quickly, Kaper-Dale said. From there, people can begin enrolling their children in school and get jobs nearby, he said.

Not everyone is eligible for benefits through the federal program. RCHP-AHC currently houses 350 Peruvians, Colombians, Ecuadorians and Nicaraguans in apartments in central and southern New Jersey who are not eligible for benefits, Kaper-Dale said.

But for those who aren’t eligible, RCHP-AHC typically covers the security deposit and a couple of months of rent to get started, said Kaper-Dale. After that, the refugees are expected to start paying their own way.

Asylum-seekers can not always begin legally working right away. They must have 150 days of their asylum application pending before they’re allowed to apply for a work permit, he said.

“They need a place to lay their head and they’re going to work hard to pay for it,” Kaper-Dale said. “Frankly, empowering people to be self-sufficient — that’s the best thing I’ve learned through any of this.”

Finding a new home in New Jersey

The 10-year-old boy from Venezuela who arrived at Mercy House in Newark in October looking for a new coat with his family had not enrolled in school because his family said they struggled to secure permanent housing after arriving in the U.S.

The family left their home in Caracas, Venezuela, to flee political persecution, the boy’s mother said through a translator. They spent six years in Ecuador, working and saving money to make their way to the United States.

They crossed the border in Texas, where they encountered border patrol officers and were processed as people seeking asylum. They eventually flew from El Paso, Texas, to New York City, arriving in September.

The family has applied for political asylum, the boy’s mother said.

They spent time bouncing around housing locations in New York after their plans to stay with a friend they met in Ecuador fell through when there was not enough space for the family. They then made their way to Newark to look for housing, finding a temporary spot in in a one-bedroom apartment, about a 20-minute walk from the Mercy House.

At night, the boy and three adults cram into a single king bed to sleep, they said.

Because their living arrangements in Newark were temporary — someone else was supposed to take the apartment they were living in, but ended up being detained at the border — the 10-year-old didn’t enroll in school, his mother said.

But, by late November, the boy had enrolled in Peshine Avenue School in Newark, thanks to help from the staff at the Mercy House. The Catholic center also provided the family with some money for their rent and the boy’s school uniform.

A few days before Thanksgiving, the boy’s father was fingerprinted while he waited for work authorization from the federal government. The boy’s aunt was preparing for her driver’s license test, and the family received a turkey at the Mercy House’s annual giveaway.

At Holy Trinity, an Episcopalian church in West Orange led by the Rev. Miguel Hernandez, there has also been an increase in migrants. The numbers at the Essex County church especially jumped last summer.

The church provides a free shop, a food pantry, a weekly bagged lunch on Saturdays and other help for new arrivals.

The church has helped migrants and newly arrived immigrants by offering English-as-a-second-language classes and hosting hospitals and clinics that provide regular medical exams and flu shots, Hernandez said.

“We plan, like once a month, special programs in which we bring immigration lawyers. Sometimes we get real estate people to come and talk to them how to get housing,” he said. Other times, financial experts have offered advice on opening a bank account.

The church has held an annual science and arts summer program for children for years. Last year, the sessions were conducted in both Spanish and English.

“It was because more than half of the kids were people who did not speak English, so they’re very recent arrivals,” Hernandez said.

In Cumberland County, the congregation at the Church of the Resurrection, an Episcopal church in Millville, has also begun helping refugees and other newcomers to the state.

In 2021, the Rev. Ellen Rutherford convened a diocesan refugee resettlement task force following the arrival of more than 10,000 Afghans at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, the state’s largest military base.

Since then, she and her congregation have also partnered with Interfaith-RISE for volunteer work in the area. Rutherford, who helps teach English as a second language through the nonprofit, has seen an increase in both refugees and asylum-seekers.

“There’s an endless stream of people who are moving around the world and coming to our part of the world for some amount of time,” Rutherford said. “They may be permanent residents or they may be passing through, but they need our help.”

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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at [email protected].

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