A massive police crackdown on crime in “defund the police” advocate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district – which had descended into a lawless cesspool of open-air prostitution, robberies and illegal vending – is being hailed as proof that more policing results in less crime and not the other way around.
Residents and local activists have been heaping praise on New York City Mayor Eric Adams after he spearheaded an aggressive 90-day police operation that has resulted in crime plummeting by 25% in a Queens neighborhood represented by Ocasio-Cortez and her Democratic colleague Rep. Grace Meng.
And while locals say they are feeling safer now – but reiterate more still needs to be done – the mayor’s office said Ocasio-Cortez showed little interest in participating in the crime crunch and that she and her office never coordinated with the Adams administration’s efforts.
A massive police crackdown on crime in “defund the police” advocate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district is being hailed as proof that more policing results in less crime and not the other way around. Sex workers on Roosevelt Avenue, left; police on the streets, right. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital, left, Hiram Monserrate, right Ian Forsyth/Getty Images, inset.)
“She hasn’t even reached out for an update on the operation,” Adams’ press secretary Kayla Mamelak Altus told Fox News Digital.
“Our office has relationships with local leaders. But in this case, she really has been radio silent.”
Ocasio-Cortez did not respond to Fox News Digital for comment on this story or other similar stories on the crime crisis along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. She has not made any recent social media comments about the crime there or the subsequent police crackdown. In 2023, she and other progressive Democrats took part in a rally in support of illegal vendors in the neighborhood, insisting they should be given licenses to operate.
The 90-day police operation, called “Operation Restore Roosevelt,” consisted of more than 200 NYPD officers and state troopers descending on the nearly two-mile commercial strip of Roosevelt Avenue in the Queens neighborhoods of Elmhurst, North Corona and Jackson Heights.
The immigrant-heavy area has been plagued by crime and the unsavory sights of illegal vendors overrunning sidewalks selling unlicensed food and hawking secondhand merchandise – scenes that garnered comparisons to third world country conditions.
Others have said the scores of prostitutes who have been openly soliciting themselves on sidewalks are akin to a “red light” district. The prostitutes have been known to chat up men on the sidewalks and then bring them into massage parlors or shuttered stores for sex.
Sex workers lined up in Queens, New York City. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
The operation resulted in nearly 1,000 arrests, including more than 130 for prostitution-related offenses.
Nearly 300 buildings have been inspected, resulting in 18 vacate orders and two locations padlocked by the New York City Sheriff’s Office for illegal cannabis sales.
More than 520 vendors have been inspected, resulting in 94 propane tanks confiscated and more than 15,000 pounds of food taken off the streets. Elsewhere, 464 vehicles have been confiscated, including 419 illegal two-wheeled vehicles and ATVs.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital that 62 people have been charged with prostitution and 15 locations have been shut down.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams walks with City Council Member Francisco Moya and the NYPD’s Kaz Daughtry on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens Jan. 10, 2025. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
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Altus said the operation was a testament to more boots on the ground equating to less crime.
“That’s been Mayor Adams’ perspective from day one, right, he’s a former cop himself,” Altus said. “More police officers don’t only make people safer, but they make people feel safer. Maybe somebody illegally vending on the corner of the street is not putting them in physical harm’s way, but it makes them feel unsafe and makes them feel like there’s lawlessness in their streets. And if there’s cops enforcing that, that just makes quality of life better.”
She also praised local City Council Member Francisco Moya, who she said played an integral part in the operation. Moya, a Democrat like Adams, has often found himself at odds with other local progressive Democrats who represent the area, many of whom support illegal vendors, for instance, and do not align with his tough-on-crime position.
Adams, too, took a victory lap for the operation.
“The community spoke, and the administration delivered,” Adams said as the 90-day operation came to an end. He promised a heavy police presence would remain.
“Since its launch in October 2024, ‘Operation Restore Roosevelt’ continues to restore safety and deliver for New Yorkers. And our work here is not done – you will continue to see a police presence, as well as other various agencies in the corridor addressing quality-of-life and public safety issues,” Adams said.
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Adams followed up the announcement with a town hall event in the neighborhood where the public had a chance to ask him questions.
The mood was largely positive, but concerns still simmered. One woman thanked Adams for the work his administration has done but also said she still feels unsafe and fearful of the violent illegal migrant gang Tren de Aragua roaming the city.
She also asked Adams what he was going to do to tackle child and human trafficking, which is intertwined with the prostitution crisis there.
“I personally do not feel safe in my own community. My niece, 24 years old, she was chased behind the health center in Corona with a butcher knife,” the woman said. “Luckily, she’s athletic and she was able to run. If it would have been me, I would have been dead. What are you going to do?”
Police on Roosevelt Avenue during the 90-day operation. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)
Adams and NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry pointed to the tumbling crime rates and said the police presence will stay in force in the area. Adams also said businesses are coming back to the area.
A spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney’s Office touted its human trafficking bureau and said every woman who was arrested for prostitution in the area was offered services like mental health or immigration services in order to get them out of that life, of which 40% accepted.
Meng, meanwhile, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that her office has been in contact with the local police precinct and that Moya has kept her office updated on the situation.
“We look forward to continuing to partner with them,” Meng said. “We again reiterate that quality of life and safety issues always need to be addressed.”
Local Democrat politician Hiram Monserrate also said the operation was a rejection of the “defund the police” model.
However, he told Fox News Digital that a lot more needs to be done and locals have identified at least 16 brothels operating in the area. Monserrate also said the local clean streets group, the Let’s Improve Roosevelt Ave. Coalition, has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez on numerous occasions, but they say she has never responded.
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“The ‘bodega brothel’ has been operating now for over a year and a half in front of two public elementary schools,” Monserrate, a former state Senator, said. “You see, it’s operating at 9:30 a.m. morning, and then at night, there’s about six or seven women out front. So it’s inexplicable, right? And so, no one should take a victory lap while this is still operating.”