NYPD officers conducted a late-night raid on a brothel in New York City on Wednesday, targeting an immigrant-run operation along the notorious “Market of Sweethearts” on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, officials said.
The area is infamous for rampant prostitution, and the raid was part of a larger effort by the vice squad and the 110th Precinct to crack down on illegal activities. Several prostitutes and clients, known as johns, were arrested during the operation, according to law enforcement officials.
“This brothel was one of the worst,” said Queens Democratic district leader Hiram Monserrate in an interview with the New York Post. “It operates 24 hours a day.”
Monserrate highlighted the dire situation many of the women involved face. Many of the sex workers are undocumented immigrants, forced into prostitution to repay human traffickers, with debts reaching up to $50,000.
Monserrate also pointed to the broader migrant crisis as a contributing factor to the rise in crime, with some immigrants becoming entangled in organized crime syndicates.
“The sheer number of people arriving in such a short time has led to some of them falling into criminal rings,” he added.
The situation on Roosevelt Avenue has become dire, with sex workers openly soliciting business on the busy streets, while drugs and stolen goods are sold on sidewalks in plain view.
Nearby business owners, like Mirella Gutierrez, who co-owns a pharmacy in the area, have expressed frustration and concern. “There’s prostitution all over. It’s ridiculous. It’s shameful,” Gutierrez told the Post, adding that her business is suffering because customers feel unsafe due to the illegal activity.
In New York City, prostitution is considered a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail. Despite ongoing law enforcement efforts, including a major NYPD operation in January that shut down a dozen brothels posing as massage parlors in the same area, the illegal activities persist.
Just one day after the January raids, sex workers were reportedly back on the streets, soliciting potential clients.
Compounding the issue, the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has reportedly infiltrated the U.S. and is exploiting vulnerable immigrants, particularly women.
According to Blaze News, the gang has expanded its operations to include kidnapping, extortion, and human trafficking, forcing women into prostitution to pay off their debts to smugglers. Women who refuse are reportedly threatened with violence against their families in Venezuela.
New York City’s ongoing immigrant crisis has worsened the situation. In 2021, Mayor Eric Adams reaffirmed the city’s status as a sanctuary city, vowing to welcome undocumented immigrants. However, as the number of arrivals surged,
Adams began sounding the alarm on the growing challenges. By August 2023, he estimated that the influx of illegal immigrants would cost the city $12 billion over the next three years, warning that New York had reached its “breaking point” due to a “broken immigration system.”
The wave of Venezuelan immigrants has particularly strained resources and fueled the rise in prostitution. In November 2023, Adams acknowledged that many of the women involved in sex work turned to it out of desperation, as they struggled to find legal employment.
He has since called for changes to New York’s sanctuary city laws, especially in cases involving repeat violent offenders. “What we need to alter are those who are repeat, violent offenders,” Adams said. “After they’ve served their time, they should be turned over to ICE and removed from our city.”
The challenges facing the city are underscored by recent crime statistics. More than 60% of suspects arrested in Queens are undocumented immigrants, according to Blaze News.
Meanwhile, over 210,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in New York City since the spring of 2022, exacerbating the crisis and prompting calls for reform.
The latest raid highlights the ongoing battle to combat illegal activity tied to the influx of immigrants, as law enforcement and city officials grapple with the complex web of human trafficking, organized crime, and an overwhelmed immigration system.
3 Comments
democrats did this to America, any vote for any democrat is a vote to destroy America for china and iran and russia. period!
Hey border czar Kamala are you reading this article. This is what you got with your open border policy. Children are also suffering the same fate to pay back these cartel ? smugglers. You had over 3 yrs. to fix this problem it is not new. What the heck have you been doing
She is AFRAID to go on Fox which is all we need to know.