Chaos erupted in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, as dozens of masked federal agents targeting street vendors on Canal Street were met with droves of New Yorkers who joined in a spontaneous protest of the arrests.
It’s unclear how many street vendors the federal agents ultimately detained, though video and eyewitness accounts suggested as many as four — and likely several more.
The man pleaded with federal agents in English if he could call his mother.
As agents made their way inside 26 Federal Plaza, members of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group guarded the perimeter, clearing way for the federal agents.
“Street vendors are not a national security threat,” said Lander, who called on the NYPD to clarify what it will do going forward.
Many New Yorkers spontaneously protested the arrests of dozens of masked federal agents targeting street vendors on Canal Street, causing chaos in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon.
Although it’s unclear how many street vendors the federal agents ended up detaining, eyewitness reports and video suggested as many as four, and probably many more. As the demonstrations intensified, agents reacted by sending an armored vehicle to patrol the streets and agents armed with tactical weapons to confront New Yorkers.
A request for comment from THE CITY was not answered by the Department of Homeland Security.
THE CITY observed a street vendor being taken into custody at the intersection of Church Street and Canal Street. A number of witnesses claimed to have known the man for over 15 years as a street vendor. In English, the man begged federal agents to let him call his mother. They placed him in handcuffs, got him into a car, and drove away.
People simply want to live, according to Lydia Leal, a Bronx woman who joined demonstrations against the arrests on Canal while she was heading home from work. She claimed that the men being removed made her think of her father, who left Cuba in search of a better life. It’s incorrect. “.”.
Agents encountered a spontaneous group of protesters during the operation, who yelled at them to leave New York City and referred to them as Nazis.
“Why are they covering their faces?” a bystander yelled at the agents.
Another said, “Because they know they’re not fucking welcome here.”.
Outnumbered and cornered, the masked agents shoved and pushed protesters aside to make room for cars, and one of them brandished a Taser and aimed it at the crowd.
The agents left the area on foot, trailed by a crowd of protesters, heading south on Lafayette Street toward 26 Federal Plaza, a holding area where arrested immigrants are often held and where federal law enforcement has offices.
As they did, additional federal agents joined them, and on Lafayette Street, there were agents with assault rifles and an armored vehicle. This was a dramatic scene that had not yet occurred in New York City before Tuesday, but has become typical of Trump’s immigration crackdown in other cities.
Federal agents dragged several New Yorkers who had joined the protest past police barricades and into 26 Federal Plaza, where they were slammed to the ground.
Christopher Marte, a member of the local City Council, who learned about the agents on Canal Street and followed them to 26 Federal Plaza with protesters, said, “I’ve never seen so many weapons on the street pointing at bystanders.”. He continued by saying, “This level of military activity in lower Manhattan is something I haven’t seen since the days following 9/11.”.
Two days prior to Tuesday’s raid, right-wing influencer Savanah Hernandez had shared a video of herself on Canal Street, tagging ICE to “go check this corner out” and stating, “20-30 illegals in the area conducting business.”. “”.
It also came after city law enforcement launched a year-long campaign to target local unlicensed vendors, many of whom were recent immigrants from West Africa who sold electronics and illegal replicas of high-end handbags. In March, for example, the NYPD conducted a week-long operation that resulted in the seizure of items “that blocked up city sidewalks” valued at $23 million. “”.
As the police department’s Deputy Commissioner of Operations last year, Kaz Daughtry, the deputy mayor of public safety, boasted about the department’s efforts to address “the ongoing issue of unlicensed vendors littering the area with bootleg merchandise.” Three weeks ago, he posted a video highlighting a joint operation between the NYPD, the Department of Sanitation, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. The objective, according to Daughtry, was to remain on Canal Street “every single day doing this operation.”. “.”.
Mohamed Attia, managing director of the nonprofit advocacy group Street Vendor Project, said that during that year-long effort, several vendors on Canal Street had been arrested and fingerprinted. This created a way for federal immigration authorities to intervene without the assistance of local law enforcement once the arrest is recorded on the FBI’s national database and compared with ICE’s database of immigrants.
“This whole mess is basically a mess of [the city’s] own making,” said Attia, referring to a restrictive cap that has limited access to merchandise vending permits to 853 people for nearly five decades, contributing a growing number of criminal summonses and some arrests that have left vendors on Canal Street vulnerable.
Following this incident, “everyone is now very skeptical and very terrified to go to work,” Attia stated.
Members of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group protected the perimeter as federal agents entered 26 Federal Plaza, allowing the agents to pass. There was still a small group of people outside Federal Plaza who were chanting and calling for the release of the detained protesters and immigrants.
Local elected officials, including City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and a number of City Council members, gathered in Foley sq\. Tuesday evening as word of the raid spread.
“There is no national security threat posed by street vendors,” Lander stated, and he urged the NYPD to make clear its future plans. “Will they assist in ensuring that, in New York City, the laws prohibiting abductions without due process by masked agents who fail to identify themselves or provide legitimate justifications for removing individuals from the streets are upheld?”.
New Yorkers were advised by Williams not to intensify their interactions with federal agents.
Unfortunately, what we witnessed tonight most likely foreshadows what we might encounter in the future. “.”.
