New York City—Tuesday, around 4:00 PM, the call went out. Federal agents from multiple agencies were raiding Canal Street. Even though apps created to track ICE were removed from iPhones and groups were deleted from Facebook, Americans continue to communicate when a raid occurs. Locals immediately responded and chased the ICE agents off. Several of them were arrested.
The agents were chased off of Canal street to 1 Police Plaza, a few blocks away where a standoff occurred. While unarmed protesters chanted, Federal agents brandished guns. An armored vehicle rolled down our streets. Reporters who were there told me that they had never seen anything like it.
Senator Larson is reporting that “ICE is stockpiling arms, including chemical weapons, guided missile warheads and explosive components. The spending dwarfs anything we’ve ever seen in the agency – a 700% increase.” The President is preparing to wage war against the American people. It should concern every American that this is happening in our country.
The “plausible” explanation for the raid, which the NYPD says did not involve them, was the sale of counterfeit goods. Long has Canal street been the place one goes when one wants to buy a knock off Gucci purse or a plausible Timex watch. Over the years, the vendors began to change from being mostly Chinese to mostly African, which is what happens in our cities as new immigrant populations emerge and replace the prior wave. Every now and then, the NYPD or Federal agents sweep through the neighborhood, but this was different. A man selling phone cases was among those who was arrested, this is not a federal crime.
I have often been overwhelmed by the numerous vendors who have been gathering on Canal Street for almost as long as I can remember, and I have lived here for more than 40 years. So, apparently was right wing twitter user Savanah Hernandez “overwhelmed” and “concerned”, who suggested on twitter that ICE “check it out”. So they did. As it turns out, if you want to report a group of possible illegal immigrants to ICE, and to suggest a violent raid in a residential and commercial neighborhood, twitter is the way to go. We wouldn’t want New York City to look like Paris, after all.
