Lately, it seems scarcely a day goes by without us being slapped in the face with another example of the deterioration of our major cities. The latest outrage? In Queens, New York in a place called the Roosevelt Avenue Corridor, a brothel known as one of the “Market of Sweethearts” operations is operating openly – across the street from two elementary schools, PS 19 and PS 307. Authorities suspect the brothel is run by the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
A sleazy Queens brothel is selling sex across the street from two public elementary schools near the notorious migrant “Market of Sweethearts,” say fed-up locals, who are mounting a campaign to shut it down.
The illegal sex shop is the latest example of criminal activity around the infamous strip in Jackson Heights, an area law-enforcement sources suspect could be affiliated with the cutthroat Tren de Aragua gang.
“No good,” neighborhood mom Maria Gonzales told The Post of the brothel Sunday. “The school is just there. C’mon, no good. My husband go and say to them, ‘Not here. Too close, the ninos.’ They say, ‘OK, OK, OK.’
“Crazy,” she said. “We need police. Everyone calls, but no police coming.”
The situation is publicly surfacing just days after the NYPD raided a 24-hour prostitution operation on nearby Roosevelt Avenue, where the so-called “Market of Sweethearts” hooker strip is located.
No police coming, Maria Gonzales notes. Could that be because of the years of hostility towards the NYPD from the municipal government?
The practitioners of the Oldest Profession aren’t the only issue.
The Post has published several reports about the illegal migrant open-air market along Roosevelt Avenue, where stolen goods are sold on the sidewalk and women walk the street peddling themselves.
The unruly strip comes as tens of thousands of migrants have flooded into the Big Apple since 2022, with hordes resorting to shoplifting and prostitution to make ends meet or pay off their debt to human smugglers.
Queens Democratic district leader Hiram Monserrate has been among those blowing the whistle on the seedy goings-on in his borough — and has now raised concerns about the newly exposed brothel.
“Our community is crying out for help,” Monserrate said. “Rescue Roosevelt Avenue. Protect our children. We do not need backpack giveaways, we don’t need political rhetoric. We need more cops, counselors and a massive intervention for this community.”
That all would help – but New York in general needs a much more fundamental reform than this. Both the city and the state need to make one major change of trajectory.
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That change? Dump the whole “sanctuary city” nonsense. Start working with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to locate, arrest, and deport the people who are in the city and state of New York and the United States illegally. Make these brazen criminals fear capture and a one-way ticket back to Caracas. So Venezuela says they won’t take them back? Fine. Give them each a one-way ticket to Caracas and put a U.S. Marshal on each flight to make sure they get off at the far end – and stay off. Venezuela has no leverage to dictate terms to the United States of America; these illegal immigrants by rights belong in Venezuela, and that’s where we should be sending them. If Señor Maduro doesn’t like it, the United States should tell him to eat it.
We’re the United States of America, dammit. Some pipsqueak like Maduro has no business telling us he refuses to take back his own people, people who are in our country illegally and who are causing trouble. One way or another, the message needs to be sent to Maduro that “…you damn well will take them back, one way or another, and there’s an end to it.”
But that would take a change in voting habits by the people of Queens, and of the entire state of New York. And I think we are all sadly aware of how likely that is. And what’s more, I think we are also sadly aware that Kamala Harris won’t confront Maduro on this, or anything else.
