Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended on Chinatown’s Canal Street Tuesday, going after illegal street vendors — a move that generated backlash from some onlookers.
Video shows agents arresting individuals in Chinatown — an area illegals are known to sell counterfeit items — prompting some New Yorkers to attempt to intervene, protesting the actions of the federal agents. Some vendors — some of whom were asked to prove their legal status — were seen trying to escape the area. WABC reports, “The scene grew chaotic as vendors packed up their tables and attempted to flee, with several people seen running and falling as authorities from multiple agencies, including Homeland Security, ICE, DEA and the FBI, pursued them.”
Footage shows the chaos.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that ICE, along with federal partners “including FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS-CI and CBP” conducted what was described as a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City, focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit good [sic].”
Notably, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has distanced itself from the raid, asserting that it had “no involvement in the operation” — a point Mayor Eric Adams (D) also made.
“While we gather details about the situation, New Yorkers should know that we have no involvement,” Adams said. “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.”
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who hopes to be the next mayor of New York City, also commented on the raids.
“This is not who we are, and it will never be NYC when I am mayor. The Statue of Liberty stands in our harbor, not as a decoration, but as a declaration of our values and the promise of America,” he said, deeming the ICE raid in Chinatown an “abuse of federal power by the Trump administration: more about fear than justice, more about politics than safety.
“New York was built by immigrants and we will not be bullied into betraying who we are,” Cuomo added.
Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, running on the Democrat ticket and thought to be the frontrunner in the mayoral race, also expressed disgust.
“Federal agents from ICE and HSI—some in military fatigues and masks—descended on Chinatown today in an aggressive and reckless raid on immigrant street vendors,” he said, asserting that the Trump administration “chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety.”
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