Immigrants and migrants are welcomed in many American cities like Boston

‘The government has helped us, and I thank them a lot.’ A migrant family reflects on its journey to Massachusetts.

Echo report published in The Boston Globe by Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio

On the chilly Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving, Nasly, 3, held her mother’s hand tightly as she walked from the Chelsea shelter where her family lives, down the bottom of the hill, to her preschool. Little Nasly was smiley and liked giving out hugs, a disposition that concealed just how much hardship she has endured in her three short years.

But hardship has given way to a deep gratitude for the modicum of stability the Brunys have built for themselves here, with assistance from Massachusetts’ migrant programs, though sometimes their situation still feels tenuous.

Nasly’s parents, Marie Jolene Delice Bruny and Vilnor Bruny, are from Haiti, but spent years living in Chile, where Nasly was born. They left the South American country after about seven years there, working in low-wage jobs that left them without enough money to adequately provide for their daughter, said Marie Bruny, 40.

Marie Jolene Delice Bruny and her daughter Nasly

“You can’t get out of poverty [in Chile],” she said in Spanish as she took Nasly to preschool. “You work, but you stay poor.”

To get here, Nasly traversed treacherous terrain, with her parents by her side. She clung onto her father’s shoulders as he carried her through the jungle in the Darién Gap, about 3,000 miles from their home near Valparaíso, Chile.

For miles and miles, she walked on Mexican dirt roads to reach the cartel-controlled border city of Matamoros, where her family spent three months waiting for permission to enter the US through a Biden administration humanitarian parole program, via Brownsville, Texas.

In August, they disembarked a plane at Logan Airport with a joy that had busy travelers cracking a smile as Nasly danced in front of a reflective glass at the entrance of Terminal B.

“When we were at the airport, I was happy because I was fighting a long time to get here, and a lot of hard things happened on the journey,” Marie Bruny said, thinking about all that her family had experienced.

The Brunys’ first month in Massachusetts was arduous, as they stayed on living room floors, in temporary hotel rooms, and in the homes of strangers across the Boston area. 

But the worst, Marie Bruny said, was the night the three of them spent sleeping on the street outside the Brazilian Worker Center in Allston, a state-run welcome center for newly arrived immigrant families. There, it appeared, Nasly may have finally hit a breaking point.

“She told me that she wanted to get on a plane and go back to Chile,” Marie Bruny said.

“But it’s a process, life is like that,” she added. “When you get to a country where you don’t have family, you always go through hard moments.”

The family hadn’t really heard of Thanksgiving before, and it will be their first time experiencing the holiday. But Marie Bruny said she often reflects on what her family is grateful for, despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead. “There is help for immigrants here in Boston,” Marie Bruny said. “Nasly is happy.”

They’ve lived at a state temporary respite center since mid-September, located at the former Chelsea Soldiers’ Home. Nasly is enrolled in preschool, after which she practices English at home, her mother said, sometimes spending her time counting numbers out loud. Marie and Vilnor Bruny received their work permits, but haven’t yet found stable employment. They’re currently waiting to hear back about an apartment they’re hoping to rent, with rental assistance, but they fear their chances are slim without an income.

Marie Bruny was keenly aware that parts of themselves would forever be scattered across countries and continents. Back in Haiti, she still has four children who she worries about constantly amidst surging gang violence there; her other daughter is just 11 years old. But the family will push forward to carry out its dreams here in Massachusetts, Marie Bruny said, a state which they have grown fond of. Maybe one day, they would all be reunited.

“There is respect for immigrants here,” she said. “The government has helped us, and I thank them a lot, and everyone who contributes to helping immigrants. I feel very grateful for that.”

Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio can be reached at giulia.mcdnr@globe.com. Follow her @giuliamcdnr.