New York City’s Chinatown devolved into what one reporter called a “war zone” on Tuesday, as rioters and ICE agents faced off on Canal Street while the agency tried to crack down on illegal immigrant criminals, which the area is notorious for. Meanwhile, current Mayor Eric Adams, former Mayor Andrew Cuomo, and soon-to-be anointed mayor, communist Muslim Zohran Mamdani, all pitched a fit over it.
(Video Credit: New York Post)
(Video Credit: ABC7NY)
The ICE man cometh
ICE busted nine African illegal immigrants who all had lengthy rap sheets during the operation, according to Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who spoke with Fox News on Wednesday. Their greatest hits include forgery, drug trafficking, robbery, and assault.
Five of those arrested entered the US illegally and then were set free by the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We do these based on criminal intelligence, and that’s what we had,” Lyons asserted.
According to ABC7NY, “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.”
Chinatown becomes a “war zone”
NewsNation correspondent Jessica Kartalija was very emotional over the raid, “But this is Manhattan, and it’s 2025, and it looks like a war zone out here. People are masked up; they’re not showing their faces. Everyone has a cell phone out. They’re videoing it and sending it back. It’s just causing such a stir. And, you know, to be totally honest, it’s very difficult to watch.”
“This is a city that we love. This is a city where there are so many people who are working very hard. It’s just so incredibly divisive. And regardless of what your view is, it’s a difficult situation all around,” Kartalija emphasized, according to the Daily Caller.
(Video Credit: News Nation)
While ICE was doing its job, upholding the law, leftist protesters accosted them, yelling in their faces that they were Nazis and fascists, according to AMNY. Some of the rioters tried to block federal authorities’ vehicles.
“We know everywhere we go because of elected officials’ rhetoric against violence on ICE, we have these protests,” Lyons noted.
The mobs won’t deter ICE. They plan to double down on their efforts to bust illegal immigrants in the Big Apple.
“You will see an increase in ICE arrests because there are so many criminal illegal aliens that have been released in New York, specifically and especially that are being harbored in New York for the lack of cooperation there, in New York City. So, you will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again,” Lyons added.
Turning Point USA sparks a raid
The raid came just days after Turning Point USA reporter Savanah Hernandez did a video on African migrants selling counterfeit designer bags on Canal Street. They took off running whenever the police showed up. She suggested on X that ICE should check it out, and they took her up on her advice big time.
More from AMNY – who appears to be a leftist media outlet:
As ICE agents went to their vehicles, New Yorkers ran into the streets. The agents then began pushing people and tackling some to the ground. That led to more enraged bystanders joining the mob and lashing out at the ICE agents.
The feds then pulled out batons and riot shields in an effort to get the crowd under control, striking some in the process.
The crowd followed ICE agents retreated back to 26 Federal Plaza, the site of many immigrant detentions in recent months, shouting “ICE out of New York.” The crowd was then met by more federal agents — some of whom were equipped with machine guns and looking ready for combat.
As the agents entered Federal Plaza, the NYPD arrived on the scene in riot gear to halt the advancing crowd. As of 5:20 p.m., many crowd members remained outside Federal Plaza.
Political whining predictably follows the raid
Following the raid, the predictable whining from leftists and politicians immediately ensued.
“This doesn’t make anyone safer,” Murad Awawdeh, who is the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, told AMNY. “It actually makes everyone a lot more unsafe when people don’t feel like they can go to the police or to law enforcement with their issues.”
Council Member Christopher Marte condemned the operation as “a horrifying display of federal overreach.”
“ICE has no place in New York City, especially not in the heart of Chinatown, terrorizing our immigrant neighbors with military vehicles and masked agents,” he said in a statement. “This kind of escalation is unnecessary, unacceptable, and antithetical to our city’s values as a sanctuary for all people.”
Then there’s toothless Mayor Eric Adams – from AMNY:
City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said the Adams administration was aware of the federal law enforcement action on Canal Street, and was “gathering more details,” but that the NYPD had no role in the raid.
“We never cooperate with federal law enforcement on civil deportation matters, in accordance with local laws, and have no involvement in this matter,” Mamelak said. “Mayor Adams has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue the American Dream should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals.”
A City Hall official said senior administration staff were on the ground monitoring protests at 26 Federal Plaza and that the NYPD had the situation under control. The official added that if circumstances escalate and someone interferes with a lawful enforcement action, Mayor Adams has instructed the NYPD to intervene.
“While we gather details about the situation, New Yorkers should know that we have no involvement,” Adams said, trying to cover his ass. “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) also carped over the raid.
“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 insisted, 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 spewed.
Communist Muslim mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, dripped venomous disgust over the raid, “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,” asserting that the Trump administration “chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety.”
Spoken like a true American-hating communist.
Governor Kathy Hochul also slammed the raid, saying that Trump “claims he’s targeting the ‘worst of the worst.’ Today his agents used batons and pepper spray on street vendors and bystanders on Canal Street. You don’t make New York safer by attacking New Yorkers.”
Meanwhile, the NYPD tried to distance itself from the whole incident, claiming it had nothing to do with the raid.
US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “ICE and its federal partners … conducted a targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street” that was “focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit good (sic).”
McLaughlin asserted that “rioters were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties.” She pointed out that at least one individual had been arrested for assault on a federal officer.
New Yorkers should gird their leftist loins… ICE is just getting warmed up there, and they will continue to hunt down illegal immigrant criminals to make Gotham safer, whether people like it or not.
