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7 months ago
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An illegal open-air 'flea market' operating in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's district has popped back up days days after it was raided by police officers.
Many of those operating on the sidewalks of Queens are believed to be illegal migrants hawking counterfeit goods and other wares.
The sellers have been blocking sidewalks and causing general quality of life issues for the residents of Jackson Heights, Corona, and Elmhurst.
Some locals have said their neighborhood now looks like a Third World country due to the illegal and shabby-looking street markets that blanket the blocks. Peddlers offer shoes, pots and pans, toys, used books, and picture frames, among other semi-random items.
Sex workers are also a staple of the area, leading some to dub the main stretch of Roosevelt Avenue, the 'avenue of the sweethearts.'
Just days after being shut down by the police, illegal street vendors in Queens were back at their set ups, with which residents have taken issue
Earlier this week police raided the lengthy stretch of Roosevelt Boulevard where a significant number of the illegal vendors operate.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry flaunted his department's success on X, writing: 'Now you see it … now you don't. This 'flea market' has been at the center of many quality-of-life complaints in Jackson Heights. We conducted an operation yesterday in response to these community concerns ... we addressed the unlicensed peddlers, selling counterfeit goods on the streets of Queens!'
But just one day later, videos posted by local politicians, including Ramses Frías - a Democrat-turned-Republican - showed the illegal salespeople back on the streets.
'If there isn’t a consistent police presence and/or team set in place to educate these illegal vendors then this will all continue,' Frías told Fox Digital.
He warned that conditions will really deteriorate as the weather gets warmer.
'The constant neglect from the actual representatives of this area like Ocasio-Cortez, Assembly Members Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Catalina Cruz and the rest have angered and frustrated the residents here in these communities ... Things are spiraling out of control and the lawlessness must come to an end,' he said.
Frías is running as a Republican in an area largely led by progressive politicians, including Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, whom he is currently running to oust.
Council Member Francisco Moya, who represents the district, has also been a vocal dissenter against allowing the illegal vendors and prostitutes to continue operating in the area.
'The number one complaint to my office is the congestion and garbage caused by illegal street vendors,' he recently wrote on Instagram.
'Mothers can’t push their strollers through our sidewalks, businesses are being robbed and undercut steps from their doors and residents are being put at risk from unsafe food handling. Enough is enough.'
Progressive politicians, including AOC, are catching flack for failing to deal in any meaningful way with the quality of life issue the migrant vendors present
'The number one complaint to my office is the congestion and garbage caused by illegal street vendors,' said Council Member Francisco Moya
Explicit prostitution has also become a noticeable issue in the working-class Queens neighborhood
Frías recently told Fox News: 'Like most of my like-minded residents, we see this as a third-world market.
'Basically, you just see clothes thrown across the floor the items are stolen from donation bins or stolen from stores, and they just set up shop outside brick-and-mortar businesses.
'They take away trade from these businesses and don't pay taxes. There are no repercussions, they get a free pass.'
Regarding the explicitly illegal sexual activity taking place in the area, the NYPD recently raided six establishments allegedly engaging in prostitution with Mayor Eric Adams present.
The mayor, who is concerned with the ongoing issue of illegal migrants flooding the streets of his city said at the time: 'Sex trafficking is real ... and we're not going to sit idly by and pretend that it's not happening.'
In another instance, Adams lamented the lack of workers' permits available for available to the illegal immigrants.
'Some of the illegal shops, sex trafficking that is taking place, all of this is a by-product … I keep telling folks, you have 3,000 people on Randall’s Island [migrant facility] that cannot do anything all day. That’s just not right,' he said.
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