In 1991, the USSR collapsed, and covertly, the French Fifth Republic made a dubious regime change to the hammer and sickle. France's unified military "L'Hexagone" became the most feared force in the world, and America, for the first time since the early 16th century, had been colonized. This marked the events of France's occupation of the East Coast, widely referred to as the "American Praxis", which lasted from 1991 to 1996.
France's geographic position in Europe, along with the Hexagon's presence on American shores, created a chokepoint which disrupted the balance of NATO's power throughout the first half of the Praxis. While France and the NATO countries were at a stalemate, the East Coast was under an intense ruling of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
On August 15th, 1992, the United States launched "Operation: Babylon" to combat the Hexagon's presence on the shores. This was also known as the "70 Deal" as U.S. troops were tasked with reclaiming 70% of French-occupied land along the west side of the Hudson before the USAF could deploy fighter jets on the river. The Hexagon possessed various SAM weaponry in their inventory which made it impossible for gunbirds to fly in enemy territory.
U.S. troops successfully reclaimed Edgewater, and France pulled its forces out of the battle zone, falling back as far as Hoboken. Since then, the space between was nothing but ghost towns. There were French outposts still north of the DMZ such as Leonia and Sugar Loaf, but they were stationed there for informal operations and were cut off from the rest of the force in Hoboken.