this american life

818: Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

In the last year and a half, New York City has scrambled to try and provide shelter and services to over 150,000 migrants. We take a look at how that’s going.

  • Prologue: In the middle of the night, host Ira Glass meets a woman on a mission at Port Authority Bus Station. (13 minutes)
  • Act One: Producer Valerie Kipnis follows a group of people who’ve just arrived at their new home, a tent shelter in the middle of nowhere. (11 minutes)
  • Act Two: Producer Diane Wu talks to an asylum seeker trying to hustle his way through bureaucratic limbo. (11 minutes)
  • Act Three: Host Ira Glass meets some of the city’s newest arrivals in every New Yorker’s least favorite place. (9 minutes)
  • Act Four: Three girls, whose families traveled thousands of miles to get to New York, navigate their latest challenge: American middle school. (11 minutes)
  • Act 5: One woman needs to find shelter for 27 young men in a matter of hours. (15 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org