From M.T.A. workers to buskers to shopkeepers, the people whose livelihood depends on the system offered a complex portrait of the subway as ridership approaches prepandemic normalcy.
The subway is at a critical moment as transit officials struggle to bring back riders, to shore up the system’s finances and to address fears over safety.
They aided investigators after the worst subway attack in decades. Will that be enough to persuade immigration authorities to give them visas or asylum?