The city's migrant shelter tents at Randall's Island Athletic Field #83 can hold up to 3,000 people, November 28, 2023. The shelter is one of the largest migrant shelters in the city, along with an industrial site and a former hotel. The shelter has become notorious in the immigrant community for its high incidence of robbery, violence, and, at one point, murder.

A Mauritanian customer after receiving a $10 haircut from a Venezuelan barber outside the Randall's Island shelter in New York City on October 17, 2023. "How did we know that New York is so expensive?" says the barber, "If I get the work permit, I want to open a barbershop called 'Barberia Latina' somewhere in the United States so I can send more money to my family." One year later, his barber lives in Anaheim, California, and works in a barbershop 5 minutes from Disneyland.

A migrant warms his hands at a grill outside the Randall's Island shelter in New York City on November 19, 2023. While the city initially planned to get rid of the Randall's Island shelter before winter, they ended up installing a heating system in the tents.

As winter sets in and officials begin to increase control of the lawn outside the shelter, the migrant market comes to an end, February 13, 2024. The Randall's Island shelter sparked citywide controversy as the informal market conflicted with Randall's Island's purpose as a sports site, and tensions inside the crowded tents led to violent incidents.

Mauritanian immigrant Siley Niang in his friend's apartment in Columbus, Ohio, on February 16, 2024. Niang left NYC's Randall's Island shelter for Columbus to avoid the stressful and unstable situation in New York City's shelter system. Ohio has one of the largest US-Mauritanian communities - and they stepped up and housed the newcomers.

A West African migrant shows off his day's recycling work at a Brooklyn community garden that has become a hub where migrants spend their days and nights, April 2, 2024. The Bushwick City Farm became a migrant hub - until garden volunteers restricted migrant access.

A Colombian migrant at his makeshift campsite outside the Randall's Island migrant shelter in New York City on November 04, 2023. The man set up his own camp because he wanted more privacy than the city's six tents could provide. One year later, he still lives in a tent outside the Randall's Island shelter.

Migrants from the Randall's Island shelter try to get clothes from a donation of Bronx-based St. Jerome Church on November 4, 2023. With overnight temperatures dropping below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, many migrants say they don't receive adequate clothing in the shelter system and must rely on donations or clothes earned through illegal work.