The raid on Canal Street on Tuesday was a deliberate show of force by immigration authorities who used the pretext of street crime to arrest undocumented people, attorneys told Gothamist.

Dozens of federal agents from ICE and other law enforcement agencies fanned out on Canal Street Tuesday afternoon, at times clashing with protesters and arresting at least nine people.

The Department of Homeland Security described the raid as an intelligence-driven enforcement targeting the counterfeit goods trade.

But Amy Belsher, a supervising attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said public display of masked agents and military-like equipment was designed to shock New Yorkers. The raid appeared to follow a similar playbook to ICE actions in Chicago and other U.S. cities, where agents used

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