Fearing Deportation, Food Vendors Are Leaving New York City’s Streets

The surge in ICE arrests across the nation, coupled with other immigration policies of the Trump administration, have spurred a noticeable drop in vendors selling on New York City streets, as well as a decline in the number of street vendor customers.

News Story (New York)

Texas Public Radio
January 12, 2018
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Tags: Deportation

Organizations mentioned/involved: Street Vendor Project (NYC)

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DETAILS

There’s no statistical information on the economic impact the Trump administration’s immigration policies have had on street vendors, many of whom are undocumented immigrants. But in the Queens neighborhoods of Jackson Heights, Corona and Jamaica, where selling food and other items on the street is common practice, some vendors say they have lost a significant portion of their income.

“There was a period that there were a lot of rumors that ICE was on Roosevelt Avenue [a busy commercial street in Jackson Heights] — that there was an ICE van there by the subway,” Basinski says. “I don’t think that was true, but people thought they were going to get picked up.”