ICE Agents Descend on Canal Street in Massive Action Against Vendors

A person is held on Canal Street during an operation by federal agents Tuesday afternoon. Photo courtesy of Christopher Marte

In a public arrest operation by ICE, unprecedented in New York City, dozens of heavily armed agents descended on Canal Street in Tribeca Tuesday afternoon. The action, aimed at street vendors between Church and Lafayette streets, quickly led to protesters gathering at the chaotic scene and at 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE offices are housed.

Thirteen people were arrested, according to ICE.

The first agents reportedly emerged from unmarked vehicles on Lispenard Street.

Video courtesy of Christopher Marte

“When I first got there between Church and Broadway there were around eight ICE agents going after one vendor. And that quickly became around 50 ICE agents for that one vendor. And then we got word that they took another vendor,” City Councilman Christopher Marte said as he was observing the scene outside 26 Federal Plaza later in the afternoon. “At the height of it there were probably 80 ICE agents with military vehicles and weapons pushing bystanders. I saw them push people with film cameras and notepads and other signage identifying them as press.” 

Some protesters, trying to block the agents, also were arrested, Marte said, calling the action “the most visible I’ve seen of ICE agents on the streets of the city.”

“These men, they are just grabbing people, putting them in cuffs,” a witness told the New York Times. “Nobody’s identifying themselves, explaining. There’s no due process going on. It’s just straight to the back of a van if you’re African on Canal.”

That stretch of Canal Street is a tourist mecca for fake designer goods sold largely by West African migrants. The area for years has been the site of community complaints and periodic operations by the NYPD.

In a statement, an ICE spokesperson called the action a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City, focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.” Nine “criminal aliens” and four “violent rioters,” were arrested, the spokesperson said. Another person was arrested for obstruction.

An ICE spokesperson did not respond to emailed questions from the Trib.