Queens Father and Son Share Asylum Story

“Now we just have to figure out how to bring my grandmother from Venezuela,” said six-year-old Kendry.  He looked up at his dad with big wide eyes. His dad, also named Kendry, put his arm around his son. The father, son and mom are part of the recent wave of 500,000 Venezuelan migrants who have come to the United States during the past few years.

Little Kendry attends the free after-school program run by the Boys and Girls Beacon Club in Astoria, Queens. These families need a lot of help. Diana Chavez, director of the program, said, “The Boys and Girls Beacon Club is assisting migrant families by providing their kids with a safe place to spend time after school. This helps newly arrived children transition and, over time, adapt to a new culture, making them feel at home and as a part of the community.”

The father and son talked with Harlem View in Spanish about their journey. Kendry senior said they left Venezuela in 2018, when Kendry junior was a year old, because of the country’s economic and social crisis. “There was no food, no baby supplies such as medicine, milk, and diapers,” he said. The family fled to Mexico City where they lived for three years with an aunt. Eventually, Kendry realized that the opportunities in Mexico were limited but going back to Venezuela was not an option either. He decided to seek asylum in the U.S.

Kendry and his wife applied for asylum in 2020. After a three-year wait and more than $9,000 in legal expenses, their asylum application was finally approved eight months ago. “I went to court four times to convince the judge,” said Kendry.

Now he works for Uber Eats and Door Dash during the day and as an Uber driver at night. He also started his own business to help new migrants rent bikes at affordable prices. “They need these bikes to work for Uber Eats and Door Dash,” he explained.

He has also managed to save money to cover the legal costs to bring his family members to the city. “I have recently helped my 22-year-old brother to move from Venezuela to New York, and now we are working on bringing our mother, too.” said Kendry.

With tears in his eyes, he explained that Christmas is a hard time for him and his family because they cannot spend it with their Venezuelan friends and relatives. He said, “I miss my other relatives and friends, especially during the Christmas and New Year holidays. But we are here for a better future, and a better future for my son Kendry.”