New Yorkers are turning on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), telling Fox News that the “Squad” progressive isn’t responding to their complaints about crime and prostitution growing out of control in the city’s red light district.
Though sex-for-hire remains illegal, locals know that certain segments of the Bronx district turn a blind eye to scantily dressed migrant prostitutes capitalizing on tourists and poorly patrolled streets. The commercial strips are lined all hour of the day and night, according to one business owner who said he’s been warned about speaking out and is contemplating closing his store. He is just one of the impacted residents in the migrant-heavy neighborhoods of Corona, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst where Roosevelt Avenue stretches on with a seemingly endless row of sex workers.
Locals have compared the current look to a scene out of Bangkok, citing dice games and illegal street vendors who hawk shirts and hot food while birds scavenge for scraps. One said the conditions resembled a “third world” country they recently visited. Meanwhile, AOC and other elected Democrats would rather not acknowledge the growing humanitarian crisis. Known as the “Avenue of the Sweethearts,” the central Bronx artery was patrolled one recent night by Fox News Digital which captured some astounding footage.
A man was filmed pushing his young son in a stroller past a gaggle of five prostitutes. Elementary and high schools are cautioning parents about the passageways from residential neighborhoods where students are pushing their way through “armies of prowling prostitutes,” as Fox described the scene. On September 18th, the NYPD raided a brothel and arrested three; one prostitute and her john casually walked out unperturbed.
On another block of Roosevelt Avenue, Fox cameras captured no less than 19 prostitutes standing in a row waiting for business. One woman on the block was seen soliciting sex for just $60. Nearby are panhandlers and secondhand goods sellers pushing everything from pots and pans to used clothes and hardware tools. Unsanctioned, open-air nail and hair salons have been established in parks under tree canopies, cluttering sidewalks outside of legitimate businesses who say they are furious that New York is doing nothing to rein in practices killing their livelihoods.
Lawlessness has also led to further violent disturbances. On September 19th Fox witnessed a man being arrested after allegedly groping a 17-year-old girl on the subway. Ramses Frías, a local resident and activist, said he is growing despondent about the lack of attention from AOC and other political leaders, saying, “It feels like Bangkok with women outside locations and pulling men off the street.”
“This area has been run rampant with prostitution,” he told Fox News Digital outside the raided brothel. “It’s just been out of control and the lawlessness continues to happen. This doesn’t feel like my home. I’ve been here my whole life, and this feels like I’m a tourist in a Third World country. This is not how this is supposed to look, this is not how it’s supposed to feel,” he insisted. “This is a neighborhood and a community full of hardworking individuals, immigrants and second-generation Americans that worked really hard to be here and are facing all this evil and all these bad things. … And it’s just causing more issues daily and our quality of life just continues to drop.”
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