Authorities reportedly ignore migrant moms illegally selling fruit along dangerous highways, babies in tow

Migrant women with babies strapped to their backs are selling fruit along dangerous roads and highways in New York City, largely ignored by authorities, the New York Post exclusively reported Saturday.

"These children are constantly exposed to toxic fumes and the possibility of a catastrophic accident that could kill or maim them and their families," Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) wrote in a letter to Mayor Adams, imploring him to have the NYPD intervene, the outlet also reported.

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell reportedly told Holden their goal is to educate migrants and gain voluntary compliance rather than arrest them.

"We don't want to be on the street. What we want in this country is a real job," a 25- year-old woman called Veronica told the Post.

Veronica reportedly illegally migrated to the the United States three months ago from Ecuador. She now is selling fruit cups at a deadly intersection in Queens, her 3-year-old daughter strapped to her back.

Veronica met 20-year-old fellow mother Maria, also from Ecuador, while the two were engaged in the dangerous endeavor. Maria's child, who she also straps to her back while selling, is just a year old. Veronica lives in Brooklyn; Maria lives in Jamaica, Queens.

Sales involve weaving through idling cars temporarily stopped at red lights.

Another woman interviewed by the Post, 39-year-old Llosa, earns money the same way, and acknowledges the dangers involved. Llosa brings along her 12-year-old son. The mother-son duo arrived illegally just one month ago. They are also from Ecuador. They sell at another location in Queens along a ramp by the Van Wyck Expressway.

"It scares me for him and for me. But I need to do it to occupy my mind and earn money. Who is going to make money for us to have food if not me," Llosa told the Post.

The sellers buy the fruit and drinks at local markets and flip it for profits. Llosa estimates she makes about $70 a day in profits.

Meanwhile, neighboring counties are taking legal action to stop New York City's Mayor Eric Adams from bussing migrants into their communities, as CBS News reported Sunday.

Molly Schaeffer, Mayor Adams' director of asylum seekers operations, told lawmakers in a private briefing Thursday that more than 900 migrants had arrived on Monday alone, the New York Daily News reported. More than 4,300 migrants had arrived the week before.

Orange County and Rockland County declared states of emergency in advance of Title 42's end when Mayor Adams announced his intention to bus incoming migrants to the suburbs, as TheBlaze reported.

Suffolk County's legislature is announcing its plans to stop Adams from sending migrants to their communities at a news conference slated for Sunday at 11 a.m.

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