Groups rallying against police crackdown on prostitution in AOC's 'Red Light' district

A rally is taking place in "Squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district on Tuesday, when pro-migrant and pro-sex worker groups will call for police to stop clamping down on illegal prostitution and illegal vendors operating in the area. 

A nearly two-mile stretch along Roosevelt Avenue in the migrant-heavy neighborhoods of Elmhurst, North Corona and Jackson Heights in Queens has become known as a "Red-Light" district — parts of which encompass Cortez’s 14th District, where those described as scantily dressed migrant prostitutes solicit sex during all hours of the day and night. Illegal street vendors clog the sidewalks to cook hot food in the open while other vendors push everything from used clothes to pots and pans or tools.

Some residents compare it to a "Third World" country and have repeatedly called for the city to take action on the ongoing crisis. 

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Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched "Operation Restore Roosevelt," which aims to crack down on miscreant behavior over the next 90 days and bring back law and order to the commercial strip.

However, the crackdown is being met with opposition by groups like Make the Road New York, an advocacy group for illegal and legal immigrants; DecrimNY, which seeks to decriminalize sex work; and Red Canary Song, which advocates for migrant massage workers and sex workers. 

The groups will be holding a rally at Corona Plaza in Cortez’s district later today to push back against Operation Restore Roosevelt, which they are labeling as a "harmful policing campaign launched by Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams."

"The intensification of policing violently targets the community's most vulnerable members, including immigrants, transgender individuals, and working-class people of color– many who are street vendors and/or engage in sex work for survival," Make the Road New York said in a press release. 

STATE TROOPERS, NYPD DESCEND ON AOC'S 'RED LIGHT' NEIGHBORHOOD TO CLAMP DOWN ON RAMPANT PROSTITUTION, CRIME

"These actions appear to be a political stunt by Mayor Adams to divert attention from his recent indictment–once again, using NYC communities as scapegoats for his own failures. Instead of addressing the real issues in Queens neighborhoods, Adams and Hochul are doubling down on harmful and ineffective policing, preserving an unjust system."

Organizers say community members will share their personal stories and demand the immediate removal of state and local troops from the area. They will urge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams to invest in community-based solutions which "prioritize support for sex workers and street vendors, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to thrive."

Part of the neighborhood is represented by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y. Fox News Digital reached out to both offices for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Last month, Fox News Digital cameras recorded a line of no less than 19 alleged sex workers on a sidewalk on one block along Roosevelt Avenue. Around the corner, there were at least seven others, and a woman on the next block was witnessed offering sex for $60. Fox News Digital even recorded an alleged sex worker and her client emerging from a well-known brothel that was raided the night before and raided again just last week.

Known to locals as the "Avenue of the Sweethearts," the area has become an epicenter of vice, and parents have raised the alarm about sex workers operating in the open near schools and local taekwondo centers.

"We will end sex trafficking in this area. We are not here for one day and go away. We're here for the problem to go away," Adams said at a press conference last week announcing the strategy while flanked by top NYPD brass, including NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry. Council Member Francisco Moya, a Democrat, also attended. 

Adams said the beefed-up presence consists of nine lieutenants, 42 sergeants and 176 police officers who bring together more than a dozen city agencies with state troopers.

In a post on Instagram, DecrimNY wrote that the police crackdown is a "violent targeting of non-citizens, transgender people, people of color, street vendors" and sex workers which is "unjust and unacceptable."

"We demand the removal of state and local troops from Jackson Heights, North Corona, and Elmhurst, and call for real investments in housing, healthcare, and safety—not criminalization."