Writer Jordan Salama got the idea for his latest story, the way lots of good reporters do,

by observing life around him.

In this case, it was life underground, in the New York City subway system.

There were a lot of kids selling candy on the subway over the last six to eight months

or so, and it was something the people were noticing.

It's something that started as a quiet trend that has grown to be much more obvious,

to city commuters at least.

And the more you exist in the city, especially on certain lines of the subway, the more

you'll notice it day after day.

And when you see a small girl or a small boy who can't be more than eight years old walking

alone through lurching subway cars, it becomes to be something where they're like, what's

going on here?

Which is saying something, because people are always hustling in the New York City subways.

Singers, dancers, people selling fruit, selling their own art.

And now in that mix is a new wave of women and children selling candy.

My idea with this story was just to better understand this group of people and what they

were going through.

What I didn't expect when I was reporting this story is that they would all be from one

place.

These candy sellers are nearly all from Ecuador.

Specifically, they are Kichwa speaking indigenous families from Ecuador's central highlands.

And they're part of a group of nearly 100,000 migrants who've arrived to New York City

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