On Tuesday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained nine illegal immigrants–all of whom were African, and several with criminal records–vending merchandise on Canal Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City.
Canal Street is known for having copious vendors selling items, many of which happen to be knock-offs from high-end designers.
“ICE conducted a targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City, focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods yesterday. ICE arrested nine illegal aliens with criminal histories, including robbery, burglary, domestic violence, assaulting law enforcement, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, drug possession, and forgery,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a release. “The majority of those arrested were released into the country by the Biden administration. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo found the arrests an instance of federal overreach.
“Today’s ICE raid in Chinatown was an abuse of federal power by the Trump administration: more about fear than justice, more about politics than safety,” Cuomo said. “New York was built by immigrants and we will not be bullied into betraying who we are.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams echoed Cuomo’s sentiment in a statement, revealing the city and its police department had no knowledge of ICE’s initiative toward the vendors.
“Our administration has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue their American Dreams should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals,” the mayor said.
“We know everywhere we go because of elected officials’ rhetoric against violence on ICE, we have these protests,” ICE Director Todd Lyons said of the agency’s ongoing immigration efforts in the city. “Despite the efforts of anti-ICE agitators, the feds plan to double down and make more arrests in the Big Apple. You will see an increase in ICE arrests because there are so many criminal illegal aliens that have been released in New York specifically and especially that are being harbored in New York for the lack of cooperation there, in New York City. So you will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again.”
