The far-left is complicating efforts to remove sex workers from areas such as Roosevelt Ave. in Queens.

Roosevelt Avenue in Queens has recently experienced a noticeable increase in the number of women visibly offering sexual services for money beneath the elevated 7 train.

Similarly, East New York’s “Penn Track” area has developed into a notorious open-sex market, where nearly unclothed women solicit men in vehicles, while pimps control them through violence, treating them essentially as property.

These scenarios echoed the streets of the city thirty years ago, when prostitutes were commonplace near the Lincoln Tunnel or engaged in the hotel scene on Sixth Avenue by Central Park.

The advent of “broken windows” policing and the rise of online “escort” advertisements largely curtailed the prevalence of street-level prostitution.

However, various state and city “reforms,” a lapse in quality-of-life policing, and an influx of migrants have resulted in the re-emergence of these unsavory urban environments.

The optimistic news?

Mayor Eric Adams has directed police to intensify efforts in locations like Roosevelt Avenue, and new Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is once again focusing on quality-of-life issues, including the ongoing prostitution issues troubling neighborhoods—with plans to hold officers accountable for their responses.

Nevertheless, completely eradicating this issue will be challenging, largely due to opposition from the left and the restrictions placed on law enforcement.

Over the years, advocates for reform have maintained that a significant number of prostitutes are victims of coercion and violence.

This led New York to redirect many individuals arrested for sex work to specialized courts designed to offer support services to women, who are subsequently viewed as victims rather than offenders.

The courts provide women arrested for prostitution with connections to tailored counseling and case management services that address needs ranging from shelter and health care to immigration help, drug rehabilitation, and counseling.

Additionally, enforcement has shifted towards targeting johns instead of the prostitutes, a strategy endorsed by some feminist groups but opposed by organizations like the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, all of which advocate for the full decriminalization of the sex work industry.

Simultaneously, the internet has driven many transactions indoors and off the streets.

The outcome: Annual arrests related to prostitution have significantly declined, dropping from tens of thousands in the 1980s to just over 100 by 2022.

Yet now, amid a wider breakdown in proactive policing, the decriminalization of public drinking and urination, the elimination of cash bail for nearly all offenses, and an influx of migrants, street prostitution has started to reappear.

Moreover, pro-decriminalization advocates, frustrated with what they perceive as slow reform progress, continue to push for total decriminalization.

This movement gained momentum in 2021 when New York state repealed a 1976 law that criminalized “loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.”

Known as the “walking while trans” law, it was allegedly misused by law enforcement as a reason to harass those identifying as transgender.

However, the NYPD argues that the loitering law was typically used in response to complaints about quality of life in communities, and supporters of the repeal provide no concrete evidence showing that the law was primarily enforced against transgender individuals.

The quest for total decriminalization has received backing from prominent figures: Socialist state Senator Julia Salazar, representing Brooklyn areas with high loitering arrests, stands as one of the more radical advocates for sex workers’ rights.

“My objective is decriminalization,” she stated during a 2018 activist meeting.

Her Senate colleague—and 2025 mayoral contender—Jessica Ramos, whose Queens district encompasses a section of Roosevelt Avenue where the NYPD has reported suspected prostitutes amid the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, commented that the loitering law resembled “other damaging policing strategies like Stop and Frisk, disproportionately affecting the most marginalized populations in my district.”

Although she accurately likens it to other policing strategies, her assertion that those policies were “damaging” is debatable.

Indeed, anti-loitering laws aimed at prostitution serve as essential tools to combat antisocial behavior, just as stop-and-frisk methods were beneficial for law enforcement in removing firearms from the streets.

Removing such strategies from the crime-fighting toolbox has predictably led to increased gun violence and the propagation of human trafficking in New York City.

In an effort to shield “vulnerable populations,” the left’s actions have inadvertently rendered New Yorkers more susceptible to crime and disorder.

Seth Barron’s upcoming book, “Weaponized,” is set for publication in 2025. Adapted from City Journal.