Friday, Feb. 6, marked the 37th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did today.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order on Friday aimed at strengthening the city’s limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, making his announcement the centerpiece of his administration’s first annual interfaith breakfast.
Speaking to clergy and faith leaders gathered at the New York Public Library on Feb. 6, Mamdani said the order to bolster the city’s sanctuary laws would “uphold our city’s protection not just of our fellow immigrant New Yorkers, but of all New Yorkers from abusive immigration enforcement.”
The directive reaffirms the prohibition on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entering city property without a judicial warrant, orders agencies to audit their interactions with federal immigration authorities, and establishes a new interagency response committee for major enforcement actions.
“ICE is more than a rogue agency; it is a manifestation of the abuse of power,” the mayor said. “It is also new. It was founded only in 2002. Four mayors ago, it did not exist. Its wrongs need not be treated as inevitable or inherited. In fact, we know that there is no reforming something so rotten and base. ”
The order also requires stronger safeguards around residents’ personal data so immigrants are not deterred from applying for services like child care or health care.
Under the order, each city agency must appoint a privacy officer within two weeks, conduct training, and certify compliance with sanctuary protections that limit information sharing.
Additionally, the executive order “makes clear” that federal authorities may not enter city property without a judicial warrant, including parking garages, parking lots, schools, shelters, hospitals, and other public spaces.
Mamdani announced the move at the close of a morning program dominated by prayers and speeches about deportations, ICE raids, and the role of faith communities in protecting immigrants.
Among those members of faith communities is Rabbi Emily Cohen of West End Synagogue, who was among the 65 protestors arrested on Jan. 27 for storming a Hilton hotel in Lower Manhattan, occupying its lobby to protest ongoing violent ICE operations in Minnesota and beyond. Rabbi Cohen described how she weighed the risk of arrest before joining the action, saying she ultimately felt compelled to act “on a spiritual level.”
“Religion is often characterized as a home for the right, but I am continually inspired by the religious left,” said the progressive rabbi, who was a leader of ‘Jews for Zohran’ during his mayoral campaign.
Reverend Juan Carlos Ruiz of the Good Shepherd Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, urged the abolition of ICE and called for full amnesty during his remarks, telling the audience that “communion with God demands from us a communion with one another.”
The mayor echoed those themes in a speech that drew on Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist texts. He described immigration enforcement as “cruelty that staggers the conscience” and said federal agents “visit terror upon our neighbors.”
The new order, he said, is intended to make clear that city agencies will not assist such efforts beyond what the law requires.
“We will make it clear once again that ICE will not be able to enter New York City property without a judicial warrant,” Mamdani said.
He also announced the distribution of 30,000 multilingual “Know Your Rights” guides for faith leaders to share with congregants, regardless of immigration status.
The breakfast, the first under Mamdani’s administration, featured prayers from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu leaders. Many speakers invoked the civil rights movement and described the current moment as a new struggle for equality and dignity.
Mamdani, who described himself as “a Muslim kid with a Hindu mother” raised in the city, said New York’s diversity of faiths shaped both his upbringing and his politics.
“For as long as people have called this city their home, a question has been contested: Who is a New Yorker?” he said. “The people of this city have offered our own answer: all of us.”
Mamdani’s rebuke of federal immigration policies comes as the Trump administration’s threat to strip federal funding from states and cities with sanctuary policies has so far failed to materialize after the president’s self-imposed Feb. 1 deadline.
Trump announced the funding threat on Jan. 14 as part of a broader push to pressure local governments to work more closely with federal immigration authorities. New York State and New York City — both long designated sanctuary jurisdictions — would be among those affected, though the administration has not released details on which funds would be targeted or how cuts would be implemented.
The new mayor’s first interfaith breakfast also stands in stark contrast to his predecessor’s final.
Former Mayor Eric Adams, at last year’s event, used his time at the pulpit in 2025 to lambast the media’s coverage of his administration and to deny accusations that he was capitulating to Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city. The breakfast occurred around the time Trump’s Justice Department was in talks with Manhattan federal prosecutors about dropping Adams’ five-count indictment.
