The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement promised there would be “an increase in ICE arrests” on the streets of New York City after agents raided vendors on Canal Street.
Federal agents clashed with New Yorkers in ugly scenes Tuesday afternoon after swooping on the area to target vendors, resulting in nine arrests of migrants and four protesters.
Protesters tried to intervene when agents were carrying out their raid in the area, which is known for its not-so-underground market of knock-off designer handbags, watches, perfumes and sunglasses as well as phones and other electronics.
Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, warned the city to brace for more arrests. “You will see an increase in ICE arrests because there are so many criminal illegal aliens that have been released in New York specifically,” Lyons said Wednesday on Fox News.
“You will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again. It's definitely intelligence driven, it's not random,” Lyons added. “We aren't pulling people off the street. There was a specific reason based on criminal intelligence and criminal activity that we showed up on Canal Street.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James has launched a review into Tuesday’s operation and encouraged witnesses to submit video and photos to a portal.
“Every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation,” said James. “If you witnessed and documented ICE activity yesterday, I urge you to share that footage with my office. We are committed to reviewing these reports and assessing any violations of law. No one should be subject to unlawful questioning, detention, or intimidation.”
A sign seen near Canal Street the next day informed migrants to find a non-public space, such as a church, office or apartment, to seek refuge from agents who do not have a warrant.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the raid was a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City focused on criminal activity related to selling counterfeit goods.”
On Wednesday, Canal Street was quiet with few vendors when typically many are out selling knock-off items.
The anti-immigration crackdown followed a right-wing political commentator’s social media posts alerting ICE to the Canal Street area and urged them to “check this corner out.”
Savanah Hernandez appeared to take credit for the blitz after she shared a video from the corner of Canal Street and Broadway on October 19.
“The entire sidewalk is filled with illegals who state they are from Senegal and I watched as they fled police,” Hernandez said. “Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out.”
The episode on Canal Street follows a string of incidents inside Manhattan’s 26 Federal Plaza, which serves as headquarters for several federal law enforcement agencies.
A video earlier this month showed masked federal agents throwing several reporters to the floor inside the immigration courthouse days after an ICE officer was suspended for tackling a crying woman and pinning her to the ground in the same building.
The incidents follow the Trump administration’s policy to swiftly arrest immigrants immediately after they leave their immigration court hearings.
Immigration judges have been ordered by the Department of Justice to dismiss their cases, rendering them without legal status — and making them immediately vulnerable to arrest and removal from the country before they’ve had a chance to appeal.
The majority of the more than 3,000 ICE arrests in New York City since President Donald Trump returned to the White House have taken place inside 26 Federal Plaza.
Alex Woodward contributed reporting.
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