A Queens neighborhood in New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s congressional district was likened by locals to a “third world” country with people selling goods on the sidewalks and prostitutes openly soliciting sex.
The widely vibrant and diverse communities of Corona, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst in northwestern Queens appear to have descended into an open flea market, according to video obtained by Fox News.
Local resident Ramses Frías, a Democrat-turned-Republican who is running for the Assembly District 39 seat to clean up his community’s streets, filmed blocks and blocks of illegal vendors selling clothes, sneakers, toys and snacks.
“Like most of my like-minded residents, we see this as a third-world market,” Frías, 43, told Fox News Digital. “Basically, you just see clothes thrown across the floor … the items are stolen from donation bins or stolen from stores, and they just set up shop outside brick-and-mortar businesses. They take away trade from these businesses and don’t pay taxes.”
“There are no repercussions; they get a free pass,” says Frías, who says the streets have become overrun by illegal street vendors while crime has been steadily increasing in the neighborhood.
On Wednesday, what appeared to be sex workers were filmed outside of businesses soliciting sex from men, who residents say then go back to makeshift brothels for sex, according to Frias.
“They do whatever they please, they are open about it and not discreet,” Frías told the outlet. “They line up all along 90th street in front of a pizzeria, a 99-cent store and just try to pull men. You’ll see multiple women in scantily clad clothing. Now it’s cold, they are a bit covered up, but it will get worse in the summer.”
Only licensed vendors are permitted to sell food or goods in public spaces in New York — and prostitution is illegal in the Empire State.
Residents say that illegal migrants without permits to work have been left to hit the streets to make a living.
In January, NYPD busted a dozen brothels posing as massage parlors that were operating in “inhumane conditions” in a weeklong takedown.
Mayor Eric Adams blamed the rise of prostitution in the neighborhood on an influx of female Venezuelan migrants who are struggling to find other work in the Big Apple.
Adams said the surge in “illegal” activity taking place on street corners in Corona is just “one example” of how the nation’s ongoing migrant crisis is crippling the city.
“This is what happens when you create an atmosphere that people can’t provide for themselves — you can’t work, you can’t provide for your job and have to turn to illegal activities to do so,” the mayor told reporters following January’s brothel crackdown.
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