{"id":931209,"date":"2026-07-13T04:01:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931209\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T04:01:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:01:24","slug":"nypd-raids-illegal-nyc-vendors-again-but-canal-street-businesses-say-it-wont-change-a-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931209\/","title":{"rendered":"NYPD raids illegal NYC vendors again — but Canal Street businesses say it won’t change a thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an endless game of cat-and-mouse.<\/p>\n

NYPD cops on Sunday launched their latest raid on the illegal open-air marketplace of counterfeits that has long turned Canal Street into an unsightly nightmare \u2014 but skeptical brick-and-mortar businesses say it won\u2019t change a thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to go wherever they get their stuff and set it right back up in\u00a0five minutes,\u201d the manager of a neighborhood beauty salon told The Post.<\/p>\n

The NYPD on Sunday carried out its latest raid on illegal vendors on Canal Street in Chinatown. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

Illegal vendors on Canal Street watch as the NYPD confiscates the illicit merchandise they peddle. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

Stores along the busy stretch of Chinatown<\/a> have been here before. Occasional police raids force illicit merchants to high-tail it when the cops show up to confiscate their ill-gotten goods \u2014 only for the unscrupulous sidewalk peddlers to set up shop again when the coast is clear.<\/p>\n

Even federal immigration agents have stormed <\/a>the street with no lasting effect.<\/p>\n

Police swarmed in again on Sunday, clearing out sidewalk stands and seizing stolen and counterfeit goods being sold on the sidewalk, in some cases just feet away from businesses the merchandise was swiped from.<\/p>\n

Uniformed cops \u2014 part of the NYPD\u2019s crackdown on quality of life crimes \u2014 loaded bin after bin of the shady merchandise onto waiting vehicles and took it away as the vendors looked on.<\/p>\n

Police have repeatedly carried out quality-of-life raids on illegal vendors that have crowded Canal Street. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

For more than two years, the NYPD and even ICE have been unable to shut down the illegal Chinatown sidewalk market. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

The illicit peddlers seemed unconcerned as the items were confiscated, while others fled and waited nearby \u2014 the same routine that has unfolded countless times over more than two years.<\/p>\n

Just 30 minutes after the raid, they were set up and back in business.<\/p>\n

The whiplash drives local businesses nuts, with the illegal goods blocking the sidewalk and keeping legit customers away, while everything from high-end power tools to ripoff Luis Vuitton handbags is sold outside.<\/p>\n

In the past, the vendors \u2014 many of them suspected illegal immigrants \u2014 packed the merchandise into waiting cars with out-of-state license plates, or simply got out of sight until the cops moved on.<\/p>\n

In one of the most recent raids<\/a>, the NYPD locked up at least one of the shady vendors in April, charging him with second-degree trademark counterfeiting \u2014 a charge that is not eligible for bail in the state.<\/p>\n

Just 30 minutes after an NYPD raid on Sunday, illegal merchants were back in business on Canal Street. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the police is gone, they\u2019re here,\u201d one local businessman said at the time. \u201cThey always come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice arrest some of them sometimes, but a few days later they\u2019re back,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes they stand in front of the door. We tell them to move out of the way. Sometimes they do, sometimes they argue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NYPD declined to comment on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Steven Vago<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s an endless game of cat-and-mouse. NYPD cops on Sunday launched their latest raid on the illegal open-air…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":931210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,32457,5410,16090,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5257,7093,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,10435],"class_list":["post-931209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-chinatown","tag-ice","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-raids","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa","tag-vendors"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116910678813899817","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}