A massive police crackdown on crime in "defund the police" advocate Rep. Grace Meng. But in this case, she really has been radio silent. Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to Fox News Digital for comment on this story or other similar stories on the crime crisis along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. She has not made any recent social media comments about the crime there or the subsequent police crackdown. In , she and other progressive Democrats took part in a rally in support of illegal vendors in the neighborhood, insisting they should be given licenses to operate.
The day police operation, called "Operation Restore Roosevelt," consisted of more than NYPD officers and state troopers descending on the nearly two-mile commercial strip of Roosevelt Avenue in the Queens neighborhoods of Elmhurst, North Corona and Jackson Heights. The immigrant-heavy area has been plagued by crime and the unsavory sights of illegal vendors overrunning sidewalks selling unlicensed food and hawking secondhand merchandise β scenes that garnered comparisons to third world country conditions.
Others have said the scores of prostitutes who have been openly soliciting themselves on sidewalks are akin to a "red light" district. The prostitutes have been known to chat up men on the sidewalks and then bring them into massage parlors or shuttered stores for sex. The operation resulted in nearly 1, arrests, including more than for prostitution-related offenses. Nearly buildings have been inspected, resulting in 18 vacate orders and two locations padlocked by the New York City Sheriff's Office for illegal cannabis sales.
More than vendors have been inspected, resulting in 94 propane tanks confiscated and more than 15, pounds of food taken off the streets. Elsewhere, vehicles have been confiscated, including illegal two-wheeled vehicles and ATVs. Maybe somebody illegally vending on the corner of the street is not putting them in physical harm's way, but it makes them feel unsafe and makes them feel like there's lawlessness in their streets.
And if there's cops enforcing that, that just makes quality of life better. She also praised local City Council Member Francisco Moya, who she said played an integral part in the operation. Moya, a Democrat like Adams, has often found himself at odds with other local progressive Democrats who represent the area, many of whom support illegal vendors, for instance, and do not align with his tough-on-crime position.
