A MAGA influencer’s shock over illegal sidewalk vendors running amok in Chinatown prompted her to post a viral video of the scene online — and may have tipped off the feds about the out-of-control mayhem.
Influencer Savanah Hernandez was so stunned by the unlicensed peddlers who had taken over Canal Street that she posted a video from the scene on Sunday, two days before federal immigration agents swept in and locked up nine illegal African immigrants.
“The reason this street caught my eye was because I was recently reporting on the illegal immigration crisis in Paris and Canal street looked exactly the same,” Hernandez told The Post this week. “This worried me because it highlighted how bad New York’s immigration crisis still is, despite President Trump’s push for mass deportations.
“I wanted to bring light to the area in hopes that it would get cleaned up as I witnessed several New Yorkers upset at not being able to walk down the street due to the crowds and the migrants themselves were very aggressive with me for filming, despite not being from the U.S. and understanding our first amendment laws and rights,” she said.
Hernandez, who is from Texas, said she doesn’t know if her viral post prompted ICE agents to move in on Tuesday afternoon to break up the illicit sidewalk market — although she did tag the agency and the Department of Homeland Security when she posted online.
The influencer has also been on President Trump’s radar as part of an Oct. 8 roundtable about ANTIFA.
Hernandez’s post on X Sunday ended with the line, “Perhaps @ICEgov should go check this corner out.”
“So perhaps there are members of the administration who are looking at my account now,” she said. “I can’t say for certain, as I have not been in contact with any ICE or [Department of Homeland Security] officials outside of tagging them in a few posts directly related to Canal Street.”
The Post has long reported on the mess on Canal Street, where unlicensed vendors peddle everything from knockoff designer handbags to stolen power tools, making life hell for legit retailers.
“They take over the sidewalk,” one frustrated merchant said Wednesday. “People can’t pass. The vendors don’t care. We talk to them. They want to fight.
“It’s usually the new ones,” the storeowner added. “I spoke to one of them. He said, ‘What’s your problem?’ I don’t fight them. I just leave.”
The NYPD’s new quality of life units have swept the sidewalk of the illegal peddlers several times, but locals say the vendors simply run off and return when the cops are gone.
When the feds swept in Tuesday, they found nine of the hawkers were in the US illegally.
“I’ve been reporting on New York’s illegal immigration crisis since 2023, and got a look into the ROW hotel which was being used as a migrant center, inside footage of St. Brigid’s processing center and just watched the last 2 years as New York became overrun with illegal immigrants,” Hernandez said.
“I got a lot of people who were laughing at me when I originally posted my video, saying that this has been ‘going on for decades,’ so who cares?” she added.
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