A Democrat politician who supports a recent crackdown by the police on illegal sex work, in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s New York City district on Tuesday, was chased from a public space on Tuesday, causing chaos.
Hiram Monserrate was interviewed by the media, where he praised the police. However, the protesters were enraged. They held a rally to call on the NYPD to stop closing down brothels and illegal street vendors selling hot food or other items without permits.
Some residents compare the Queens neighborhood’s unsanitary and seedy living conditions to those of a Third World country.
Demonstrators say that residents must accept vendors and prostitution as part of everyday life.
The group shouted “More Resources, No More Raids” while surrounding Monserrate who was speaking with the press only 50 feet from the Corona Plaza rally.
Monserrate, who was directing a local nonprofit rally and had later called for coexistence between sex workers, residents, and migrant workers, stopped speaking as the chants became louder. But Mateo Guerrero, who had directed the rally on behalf of a migrant nonprofit, began getting into Monserrate’s face.
The former lawmaker tried to leave, but Guerrero followed him and shouted at Monserrate. He first walked up to the front door of a shop and then turned back and walked through the outer edges of the square.
Guerrero roared while Biney Garcia, a demonstrator from a nonprofit organization with the words “Here to Stay” on the back of her T-shirt, stood in front of Monserrate. Garcia and Guerrero claim to be members of the transgender community.
“You have been against me and my community for years,” said Garcia. He was a former sex worker who worked on Roosevelt Avenue. The street has earned the nickname, “Avenue of the Sweethearts,” due to the large number of sex workers who line the streets.
“You will never get our vote. You can go now,” Garcia raged, as he pushed Monserrate off the square. “You’re not welcome here. “Get out of here!”
Monserrate fled the square and was accompanied at that time by Ramon Ramirez, a local activist.
The crowd shouted that “sex is work” as they crossed the street. Another angry protester shouted in Spanish and English, “God doesn’t exist”.
Monserrate & Ramirez. The angry crowd was chasing them and they took cover in the next block.
Monserrate, a spokesman for the community, played down the heated exchange by saying that there were more people than activists.
“What is important is that there is a lot of energy and anger here, but the truth is Roosevelt Avenue is a crime hotspot, an urban crime area. These police officers from the city, as well as the state troopers, were essential in helping us get a grip on the unprecedented crime that has plagued this community.”
The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, launched “Operation Restore Roosevelt” last week. It aims to clamp down on miscreant behaviors over the next ninety days by sending more than 200 additional police officers, including state troopers, to the area.
Fox News filmed a group of 19 alleged sex workers scantily clad last month on a Roosevelt Avenue sidewalk. Around the corner were at least 7 more and a woman was seen on the next street offering sex in exchange for $60.
Fox News recorded an alleged sexual worker and her client leaving a well-known brothel, which has been raided twice in the past few weeks.
“We have more bodegas than brothels.” We have brothels right in front of schools and churches. 24-hour sex workers walk the streets at any time of day, even when parents are driving their children to school. Monserrate declared, “It’s unacceptable.”
“And so, the community stood up… we called the government and called the mayor and they responded. We are here to show our support for the police. “We want them to be here on Roosevelt Avenue.”
He invited residents to attend an event on Sunday, at 3 pm. The rally was held in support of police officers who have been raiding the brothels ever since the operation began.
Grace Meng, a fellow Democrat and member of the “Squad”, represents Roosevelt Avenue. Ocasio Cortez did not respond to requests for comments on the situation within her district. Monserrate claimed that neither Meng nor Ocasio Cortez had responded to his request to attend rallies for cleaning up the streets on Roosevelt Avenue.
For years, a battle has been brewing between law-and-order advocates and sex workers or illegal vendors.
Most of the sex workers and illegal vendors in the area are migrants. They say that because they have limited English skills and can’t find legitimate employment, they are forced to work on the streets.
Many migrants are drawn to the area because nonprofit groups such as Make The Road New York (which organized the rally) provide them with resources and assist them in obtaining work permits and immigration advice.
Monserrate, a proponent of law and order, says that illegal activities have transformed a two-mile stretch of Roosevelt Avenue into an area infested with crime and filth.
According to the website of the group, Guerrero is originally from Colombia and is the trans justice and leadership programs manager at Make The Road New York. He returned to the rally to condemn the police crackdown. “State troopers on our streets are frightening.”
Guerrero did not apologize for his confrontation with Monserrate, and he called for an end to the raids.
He’s not listening. Our communities say that we need housing, health care, employment, and education and we don’t want more police.
“I have lived on Roosevelt Avenue all my life. It’s the place where I grew up and it is a space for community. “This is the place where street vendors, grandmothers, and children learn to live with each other.”
“Sex workers were always on Roosevelt Avenue. The community has existed since the 1970s. Guerrero stated that sex workers are part of this community.
Garcia and Make The Road activists could be seen just a few blocks away, handing out flyers in support of Proposition 1 after the rally ended. The measure would include abortion rights in the constitution of the state. Critics claim it will allow illegal immigrants to vote in elections.
Garcia added that because trans people are more difficult to hire, they often end up in the sex business. “If you choose to sell your body for sex work that’s a way to live, no one is forcing you to do it, because New York City costs too much.”
Cathy Lopez, a former sex worker and trans woman who has been working on Roosevelt Avenue’s streets for the past 10 years, echoed this sentiment.
Lopez, who came to New York 25 years ago from Colombia, had previously worked in a beauty parlor but turned to prostitution for more money.
Lopez stated that “sex work is a good thing because you don’t do anything bad for anyone.”
