In a parking lot, tucked away on the side of the Miami International Airport, you'll find dozens of men sleeping at night. The men are not airport employees, and they are not traveling anywhere; they are cab drivers.
The lot smells of garbage and urine, but it is home for most of the men who sleep there. Fidel Moreno, who goes by the nickname "Chino," has lived at the airport's parking lot for 20 years.
"It's my life. It's my house. It's my apartment. It's everything," he said. Chino is one of an estimated 100 taxi drivers who sleep at the airport at night. Like most of the other drivers, he works around the clock and barely makes enough money to survive.
"I have family," Chino said, "but I never see my family. They come here to visit me. My son and my daughter and my brother, they come over here to my apartment," he said, referencing his taxi. "For Christmas and New Years they will visit me here, because I don't have no place to go."
Drivers like Francisco Filho keep blankets in the trunk. Filho has been driving a cab for four months. He tells us that he has a home, but he comes to the lot at one in the morning so that he can get in line to catch the first fares of the day, when the first flights arrive into the airport at 5 am. He sleeps from 1 until 4 am in his car.
"You gotta survive. You gotta get by. You gotta work," he said.
Avelino Paula is from the Dominican Republic. He, like many other cabbies, just found out he was losing his home.
"I lost my house. I had to pay my credit cards and feed my children," he said. "The problem is, we have to work like 18 hours every day, 7 days to make money." He still barely makes enough to keep his head above water. "For me, I make a week $600, $650... it depends."
Anyone can choose to pick up fares at the airport; but a strict system must be followed. When the lot is open, drivers are allowed to enter. 350 cabs can be in the lot at a time. When the lot is full, authorities close it. The cabbies park in lines, when their line is called, it is their turn to enter the terminal and pick up a fare. They usually have to wait 2-3 hours before their line is called.
To pass the time, the drivers gather underneath a pavilion. They play games, like dominos and cards. They play music and eat a hot meal. And as soon as they hear their line called over the loud speaker, they run to their cars to enter the terminal.
The reason they can't make money, though, is because they say they are getting too many citations from the County, paying the County too much for mandatory inspections and they are paying exorbitant leases to cab companies.
Many drivers pay anywhere from $500-$700 per week to lease their cars. Angela Cruz is a cab driver and the Vice President of the Cab Association.
"There are only a few cab companies. They own 80 percent of the taxis in Miami. So whenever they decide to raise the lease, we just have to lower our heads and pay."
Cruz said the County should be regulating the cab companies more closely. And she said the citations that the County is issuing to taxi drivers are out of control. She said the County can issue a ticket for just about anything... like not wearing a collar, or not being courteous.
"I don't know if it's corruption, racketeering, or just simply negligence. We are just asking for the authorities to do a proper and honest job, with integrity." Cruz said that in some cases, there is no proof that an infraction occurred, but they are being fined anyway. She said these fines are crippling the drivers.
NBC Miami asked the Consumer Services Department of Miami-Dade County about these allegations. In a written response, a spokesperson said, "The County is responsible for protecting consumers and ensuring that taxi cab service meets the needs of the public. Service violations that negatively affect passengers and drivers may result in citations. Any proceeds that are received from this activity are used to support County efforts in maintaining a high quality of service."
NBC Miami was not able to secure an on-camera interview with Cathy Peel, director of the CSD.
Cruz said she'd like to see the County fight for the rights of the taxi drivers as much as she said it fights for the rights of the consumer.
"We are human beings for God's sake, we just want to be treated as human beings," Cruz said. And until that happens, she said, homeless cab drivers will never get ahead.
Marc Henderson, with the Miami International Airport, said the airport is aware that there are cabbies living in their parking lot.
"It's unfortunate, but part of this is the economy," he lamented. "I mean, people are all affected. Fortunately for these guys, even if they are homeless, they don't have a home, they're at least coming and getting fares so they are making some money."
