It was business as usual on crime-ridden Roosevelt Avenue Monday — despite ICE ramping up immigration enforcement raids and President Trump’s promise of an even tougher crackdown on Democrat-run cities.
A smattering of sex workers and knockoff goods-peddlers working the seedy stretch of Queens told The Post they were afraid of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hitting the area, but not enough to keep them from plying their trades.
“I don’t want to be here. I’m scared. I watch every minute to see if ICE shows up and I’m ready to run,” said Martina, a street walker who came to the US from Venezuela about two years ago.
“This has been every day. First I was scared of the police and now I’m scared of ICE. But what can I do? I have babies at home and I have no husband to provide for us,” she continued.
“If ICE takes me, I don’t know what happens to them,” she said. “I’m scared every day.”
The thoroughfare has long been a center of migrant criminal activity.
Locals earlier this year penned a letter to Trump border czar Tom Homan asking for federal assistance to deal with the rampant street crime they claimed was being spurred by homeless illegal immigrants.
The street was also once a breeding ground for sex-trafficking being perpetrated by gangs like Tren de Aragua, according to law-enforcement sources. Advocates told The Post last year the vicious gang targeted women in city migrant shelters and forced them into sex work.
Gov. Kathy Hochul sent in hundreds of state troopers last fall to take control of the area.
The infamous “Market of Sweethearts” — the blighted section of the avenue known for open-air drug markets and streetwalkers strolling its grubby sidewalks in broad daylight — appeared decidedly less shady Monday.
But the handful of illicit goods purveyors that remained did so reluctantly, and in spite of the potential risks.
Two blocks east, a street vendor hawking imitation designer sunglasses, pocketbooks, toys and other tchotchkes echoed Martina’s fears, but shared her sense of having no other options.
“I know I take a risk but I don’t have any choice,” said the merchant, who declined to give his name.
“I have problems with my health and can’t do physical labor. There aren’t so many people selling things on the Roosevelt because they are scared,” he said.
Trump, on Truth Social Sunday, announced plans to bring sweeping changes to big US cities known as hotbeds for unchecked illegal immigration — primarily Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.
He vowed to unleash ICE agents to carry out “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”
On Truth Social Sunday, Trump — unleashing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump wrote.
“These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it!” he claimed.
It’s not clear how his announced crackdown will affect the Big Apple, where ICE has already been ramping up arrests of illegal immigrants by rounding up people showing up to federal immigration court hearings in Lower Manhattan.
Asked about Trump’s vow to flood the city with ICE, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and City Hall “will be communicating with the federal government and find out exactly what initiatives are going to take place.”
He emphasized that local authorities would only work with ICE on criminal manners, not civil immigration enforcement.
“We will dig into to exactly what the next steps are, but I can’t be clearer, the federal government is in charge of immigration enforcement. They are in charge of that. We are not gonna collaborate with civil enforcement and we’re going to encourage people to not live in fear and go on with their lives,” Adams said.
— Additional reporting by Kevin Sheehan