Aspiring citizens in New York City are not going anywhere after Superstorm Sandy devastated parts the region. They are pitching in to help rebuild what was lost. Latino workers and day laborers organized themselves with assistance from El Centro del Inmigrante, which advocates for the economic advancement and well-being of immigrant workers and their families, to form the the Staten Island Day Laborer Hurricane Relief Brigade and other cleanup volunteer groups. Day laborers have volunteered to clean up New York City neighborhoods, including restaurants affected in Coney Island.

Superstorm Sandy plunged some immigrants living without documents in the U.S. into darkness and even deeper into the shadows. Some of those who need help to get temporary housing and food are afraid to come forward because they risk deportation. And many have returned to damaged, powerless, moldy homes because they have no other place to stay. "My son has asthma and now he is worse. The house has this smell of humidity and sea water," Mexican immigrant Miguel Alarcon Morales said while holding his 2-year-old son, Josias. "It is not safe to live there. I am starting to feel sick, too."

While thousands have tapped into $703 million in federal aid after Hurricane Sandy, the city's undocumented immigrants find themselves empty-handed. FEMA reports 236,000 New Yorkers have requested relief in the wake of the storm, but cash assistance for things like home repairs are only available to U.S. citizens, leaving thousands of undocumented immigrants with nowhere to turn. FEMA officials did say there is some cash assistance available for undocumented immigrants, but only those who have U.S.-born children or relatives. A FEMA spokeswoman insisted undocumented immigrants who apply for assistance will not be asked for information on their immigration status.

El azote de la supertormenta ‘Sandy' ha dejado en una situación de vulnerabilidad a miles de inmigrantes mexicanos sin papeles que viven en la isla cercana a Manhattan y que debido a falta de información y miedo por su condición migratoria tardan más en rehacer sus vidas que los ciudadanos estadounidenses afectados por el mismo desastre natural.

Entre las tantas víctimas de Sandy, muchas permanecen en las sombras y sin saber que reúnen las condiciones para recibir la misma asistencia gubernamental que goza cualquier residente de esta ciudad. Carleth Keys estuvo en Staten Island donde, por temor a su estado de documentación, una comunidad inmigrante permanece alejada de los esfuerzos de ayuda.

Nueva York- La cantante y actriz Thalia se ha unido a la campaña que el Instituto Cultural Mexicano y el Consulado en Nueva York lanzaron para recaudar fondos para los inmigrantes de ese país afectados por el huracán "Sandy" en la Gran Manzana. La artista mexicana grabó un anuncio de 30 segundos para la radio en el que pide ayuda para sus compatriotas, contenido que el martes 20 de noviembre dio a conocer el Consulado. "Como saben, el huracán 'Sandy' ha afectado a miles de familias dejándoles sin electricidad, sin enseres y en el caso mas grave, sin hogar", indica la artista en el anuncio de servicio público.

Fifteen volunteers from Obreros Unidos De Yonkers, a group of day laborers in the Yonkers area served by Catholic Charities, accompanied Catholic Charities staff on Sunday, November 18, to help people in the New Dorp neighborhood in a Staten Island whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Donning work gloves and masks they responded to requests, moving from house to house to break down walls, remove crumbling sheet rock and pull out destroyed furniture.

If history repeats itself undocumented immigrants will be a large part of Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts but they themselves won’t qualify for financial assistance from FEMA. Undocumented Immigrants on the eastern seaboard are among those bearing the brunt of Hurricane Sandy but many of them won’t be able to access FEMA subsidies unless their is someone with legal resident status in their home. People issued a legal permanent resident card - commonly referred to as “a green card” - may apply for assistance if they have disaster-related losses. Other non-citizens who can apply with FEMA include those with legal resident status because of asylum, refugee status, parole status, suspensi

Grass-roots leaders who lived through Superstorm Sandy have learned many painful lessons. We now fully understand that extreme weather in the age of climate change and global warming knows no class, race, or privilege boundaries. And in the storm’s aftermath, we realized that city and state agencies and large relief organizations did not have the expertise, networks, or trust to aid many of the hardest hit communities, especially in neighborhoods that are home to low-income blacks, Latinos, and other immigrants and elderly people who live on fixed incomes.

About 50 or so people gathered outside a storm-ruined taco restaurant on Saturday morning in Coney Island, on a backstreet behind the Boardwalk near the Wonder Wheel. They were day laborers, Hispanic men and women who have been spending weekends as a volunteer brigade, helping other people chip away at the mountains of debris and accepting nothing in return except work gloves, face masks and safety information cards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They came from all over the region, including a day labor hiring center in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, that Hurricane Sandy had washed away.