New York City Street Vendors Face Heightened ICE Raids Amid Expanding Support Networks
About 96% of New York City's roughly 23,000 street vendors are immigrants, with approximately 27% of mobile vendors undocumented, making them particularly vulnerable to recent immigration sweeps.
This year, ICE has carried out 7,488 arrests in New York, increasingly targeting street vendors in raids. In late October 2025, 14 people were detained in Manhattan's Chinatown, and a planned raid in late November in Lower Manhattan was thwarted when 200 protesters blocked garage exits.
Long-standing enforcement actions against street vendors, including fines and permit caps, have historically pushed many into regulatory shadows, predating the current ICE raids.
In response, the Street Vendor Project and NYC Ice Watch are expanding a citywide rapid-response network to support vendors. They are training volunteers, distributing know-your-rights materials and safety whistles, and employing multi-channel outreach through social media, Reddit, and word of mouth to alert vendors and coordinate responses.
New initiatives include a "hire-a-vendor" program to connect vendors with event opportunities and collaborations with the New York Immigration Coalition to enable vendors to seek shelter inside stores during raids.
Organizations such as Hands Off NYC have organized Know Your Rights trainings citywide, attracting more than 1,000 participants per session, and plan Weekends of Action involving numerous neighborhood groups canvassing the streets.
Concerns are growing that New York City could see increased raids as national guard deployments in other cities and intensified border enforcement actions in other states heighten fears of nationwide immigration crackdowns.
During a recent White House visit, former President Trump pledged to work with the mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on housing and cost-of-living issues; however, community organizers remain skeptical about forming a strong alliance.
