Jackson Villamarin Villegas moved into a third-floor walk-up apartment in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn in March. An immigrant from Venezuela, he shares the small room — and splits the $850 per month rent, plus utilities — with another migrant from his country.
His landlord also lives in the apartment, sleeping behind a curtain in the living room.
The room is “big enough for what I have,” said Mr. Villamarin, 42. Leonardo Uzcategui, founder and chief executive of Fundavenyc, a nonprofit group which provides assistance to Spanish-speaking New Yorkers, translated his words to English.
The space “feels good,” but Mr. Villamarin would still like another place that’s “bigger and more comfortable,” he added.
Mr. Villamarin is among the more than 150,100 migrants who made their way to New York City between the spring of 2022 and the start of December 2023 — a surge Mayor Eric Adams described as a humanitarian crisis and estimated could cost the city about $12 billion over three years.
He has applied for asylum now that he is in the United States. According to his asylum application, the Venezuelan government threatened his life, and because of his anti-government political activism, he was detained for 32 days in prison.
“From 2008 onward,” Mr. Villamarin said, he received “letters that came to me at work with threats, letters at home that said, ‘enough, stay away from the people you are joining because we will come for you and your family.’”
While in jail in 2014, an object was placed in Mr. Villamarin’s hand while he was tied to a chair, Mr. Villamarin recalled. There was an explosion, and he lost the tips of two of his fingers. He woke up in a military hospital, where the government released him from detention, he said.
Following a long and dangerous journey from Venezuela to the United States, Mr. Villamarin crossed the border into Texas in 2022. But finding his way in New York City was difficult. After catching a flight from San Antonio to La Guardia Airport using money that his cousin lent him, he needed to navigate the New York transit system to get from Queens to Manhattan. He got lost in the subway system for four hours before a police officer at a station in the Bronx guided him to a shelter processing center.
He was assigned a room at the Sleep Inn Hotel in Brooklyn with a roommate through the city, where he stayed for two years. The shelter, he said, allowed him to figure out how to find jobs without documentation — landing one three months later for a junk removal and hauling company. Like many new arrivals in the United States, he worked off the books at first, but in May, he received his work authorization, said Mr. Uzcategui, the chief executive of Fundavenyc.
Mr. Villamarin has since applied for another job with New York City’s Department of Social Services providing care for fellow migrants who are living in shelters, and is still waiting to hear back.
$425 | Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Jackson Villamarin Villegas, 42
Occupation: Laborer
On his family: Mr. Villamarin misses his family, whom he helps support financially, including his three teenage children who still live in Caracas. He often feels alone without them and only gets to talk to them on video on his phone. Still, “I don’t have any regrets because it was my life and my family encouraged me to leave the country,” he said. “And when your mom says something, you should listen regardless how old you are, and I left the country with the help of my family and for my life.”
On his love for Super Mario: A Super Mario stuffed doll Mr. Villamarin bought from a street vendor in Bucaramanga, Mexico, for 25 pesos rests on the built-in desk in his room. He loves Mario and has played the Nintendo video game since he was young. The doll was confiscated by border patrol officers for 24 hours when he was being processed at the border, before being returned to him. Now, Mr. Villamarin describes the Mario doll as his companion and best friend, and talks to it when he feels sad and alone.
Fundavenyc was among the organizations welcoming asylum seekers when Mr. Villamarin arrived in New York, Mr. Uzcategui said. In addition to helping Mr. Villamarin apply for asylum and a work authorization, the group helped him enroll in English classes, understand his rights, and connect with other immigrants who could mentor him through his journey, Mr. Uzcategui said. He also received a one-time stipend of nearly $600 from the group.
At the urging of Fundavenyc to become independent from the shelter system, Mr. Villamarin moved out of the shelter earlier tin March, staying at a friend’s house for a short time before moving into his Sheepshead Bay apartment, which he learned about through a WhatsApp group of fellow Venezuelans.
Mr. Villamarin’s experience has been easier than that of many other recent migrants, Mr. Uzcategui said. He attributed that to Mr. Villmarin’s positive attitude, that allowed him to overcome language and cultural barriers, and connect with people.
“That made his life easier than other cases that I’ve been able to witness myself, which have been horrible,” Mr. Uzcategui said.
Mr. Villamarin hasn’t made many friends since moving to New York, which often makes him feel isolated. When he’s not working, he tends to keep to himself so he can rest, recover and, as a Catholic, pray.
The new apartment has also allowed Mr. Villamarin to reconnect with his passion for cooking.
In Caracas, he owned a food cart with his sister called “Honor a mi Familia,” that sold hot dogs, fried rice, soups and cachapas, a popular Venezuelan dish similar to pancakes, which he cooked on a gas stove. He wasn’t allowed to cook at the New York hotel, so he had to eat out every day.
The new apartment has a narrow but full kitchen, with an oven, stovetop and a lot of appliances. He has made a number of Venezuelan, Mexican and Argentine dishes. Now in the United States, he would like one day to cook professionally again.
“My profession is the kitchen. I love cooking,” said Mr. Villamarin. “I feel extremely happy cooking, my food is healthier, I feel very very well.”
Two rows of flat-brimmed hats sit on top of a small built-in desk next to the TV in Mr. Villamarin’s room in Brooklyn. He loves to collect hats and tries to buy a new one each week. The collection has now grown to 29 — most of them representing various American sports teams and players, such as the New York Knicks, the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Bulls, and Kobe Bryant.
The hobby dates back to his childhood when he watched major league baseball and National Basketball Association games with his father on TV. He wanted to come to the United States to see a game in one of those arenas or stadiums — a trip that was unattainable for his family. So both he and his father settled by buying team caps instead.
Now in New York, he was finally able to attend a Mets game at Citi Field in April. He paid about $45 for his seat on the third-level balcony behind home plate. He said he cried with joy as he walked around the stadium and saw its “beautiful facilities.”