Breaking the law and barely surviving: Inside NYC’s cash-based migrant economy wreaking havoc on city revenue

With stiff, cold fingers, Sambeittou Sambeittou removed the neatly folded piece of cardboard he carries in his pocket like a wallet and treats like a precious jewel.

“I’m looking for carpenter jobs” is written in marker along with a phone number.

The 45-year-old huddled with other migrants from Africa at the entrance of a Lowe’s in Brooklyn, hoping for a few dollars in tips from customers loading drywall, lumber and insulation into their vehicles.

Sambeittou never learned to read and write in Mauritania, the West African country he left three months ago on a journey that took him through Senegal, Turkey, Nicaragua and Mexico.

He spoke to The Post in halting French. His first language is Hassaniya Arabic, spoken by everyone in his hardscrabble village, where he worked as a carpenter and where his wife and three children still live.

“It’s a little tough here, but I had no choice,” Sambeittou said when asked why he made the journey to New York City. “I had no idea what to expect or where I was going. I just came for work.”