Homeland Security officials confirmed agents carried out a multi-agency crackdown on street vendors Tuesday, most of whom are part of the city\u2019s immigrant population. Immigration advocates accuse the federal government of racial profiling.<\/p>\n
Chinatown was the center of a chaotic scene as agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a raid on street vendors they accused of selling counterfeit goods.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey asked him for his vendor\u2019s license, which he had,\u201d said Awa Ngam, who has worked as a street vendor near Canal Street for more than 15 years. \u201cHe is not an illegal vendor.\u201d<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Homeland Security officials confirmed agents carried out a multi-agency crackdown on street vendors Tuesday, most of whom are part of the city\u2019s immigrant population. Immigration advocates accuse the federal government of racial profiling
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Chinatown was the center of a chaotic scene as agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a raid on street vendors they accused of selling counterfeit goods
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In all, the Department of Homeland Security said agents arrested nine \u201cillegal aliens\u201d who have violent rap sheets. The agency posted on X, saying, \u201cNew York\u2019s Canal Street is safer\u201d<\/p>\n
Only five of those nine have been arrested for crimes not related to immigration<\/p>\n
In all, the Department of Homeland Security said agents arrested nine \u201cillegal aliens\u201d who have violent rap sheets. The agency posted on X, saying, \u201cNew York\u2019s Canal Street is safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only five of those nine have been arrested for crimes not related to immigration. Two were arrested in the past for violent crimes, including assault and domestic violence. The rest of the charges included robbery, forgery, narcotics sales and counterfeiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband told him, \u2018This is my wife. She\u2019s a U.S. citizen,\u2019\u201d Ngam said. \u201cSo they gave me back my ID and left. But they arrested him, who\u2019s been here for the last 24 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ngam, who said she became a U.S. citizen after fleeing oppression in her native Mauritania, said ICE agents questioned her before arresting another vendor who has worked in the area for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
Cellphone video showed a crowd gathering around ICE agents after the arrest of the vendor, who witnesses said sold cellphone accessories.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Attia, managing director with the Street Vendors Project, said the man is now in a New Jersey detention center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were basically going after, for the most part, African vendors, Attia said. \u201cAnyone who has Black skin on Canal Street was basically stopped and they were basically asked to provide their IDs and provide proof of their immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n
DHS also said five protesters they described as \u201cviolent rioters\u201d were also arrested, including four who they claim assaulted law enforcement.<\/p>\n
By nightfall Tuesday, more protesters had gathered at 26 Federal Plaza, along with elected officials, who all condemned the operation. Immigration advocates say there will likely be similar crackdowns in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that all New Yorkers \u2014 regardless of your immigration status \u2014 every New Yorker needs to know what their rights are,\u201d Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO at the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), said. \u201cAll New Yorkers of all stripes, all creeds, need to step up and fight for each other. We are only as strong as our neighbor is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, why not,\u201d said Ngam, when asked if she planned on continuing to be a street vendor. \u201cAll completely and totally. I plan on doing it. I\u2019m not doing anything wrong. Never have, never will and I\u2019m not afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FBI, DEA, ATF and IRS all assisted in the federal crackdown. And while the NYPD says it was not involved in the operation, local police did make at least two arrests related to the demonstration.<\/p>\n
Based on information provided by DHS, it appears as if most, if not all, of the street vendors arrested Tuesday are originally from the continent of Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Homeland Security officials confirmed agents carried out a multi-agency crackdown on street vendors Tuesday, most of whom are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[387,25,75,84,83,9,24,12,26,63,308,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-13224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-app-public-safety","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-manhattan","11":"tag-manhattan-headlines","12":"tag-manhattan-news","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nia-clark","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-public-safety","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}