Each weekday morning before dawn, hundreds of people stand outside the main immigration courthouse in Manhattan in a line that often curves around the building.

They arrive as early as 10 p.m. the night before, with some people wrapping themselves in cardboard to brace themselves against the cold. They covet a spot inside the federal office building, most for mandatory check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

New York City’s already backlogged immigration system has been straining to accommodate an influx of more than 21,000 migrants since the spring, many of whom are new arrivals bused in from border states.

Reporter Arya Sundaram of the newsroom's Race and Justice Unit has the story on how the delays affect the lives of some of the neediest newcomers to the city and the country.