"Dozens of largely masked federal agents descended on the block on Tuesday and arrested nine men, nearly all of them West African. The scene was chaos. Witnesses stood in shock as an armored military-style truck rolled down Lafayette, and protesters chased federal agents to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices at 26 Federal Plaza where there were five more arrests."
"The Department of Homeland Security claims the migrants arrested had "violent rap sheets," though witnesses say the arrests seemed far less calculated than anything like that - "there's no due process going on," one witness to the scene on Tuesday told the New York Times. "It's just straight to the back of a van if you're African on Canal.""
"A man named Edwin, a Brooklyn native who was among the vendors caught up in Tuesday's raid, had been cut loose by federal agents and was back on the block, waving around a laminated brochure with photos of Goyard handbags. "It's a good day to get back to the money," he tells me. "I got bills to pay, kids to feed. Donald Trump don't pay my bills.""
On Canal Street Thursday morning, many souvenir stores were shuttered and most street vendors were absent, though a few returned to sell counterfeit luxury goods. Edwin, a Brooklyn native released by federal agents, waved a laminated brochure advertising Goyard handbags and said he needed to work to pay bills and feed his children. Dozens of largely masked federal agents raided the block on Tuesday, arresting nine men, nearly all West African, and witnesses described chaos and bystanders in shock. Federal authorities framed the arrests as targeting criminal migrants, while witnesses criticized the actions as lacking due process. Canal Street has long seen immigrant vendors and recurring police crackdowns.
Read at Curbed
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