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.
The Department of Homeland Security condemned Mamdani for signing the executive order that, according to the agency, will turn the city into “a shield for violent criminal illegal aliens to reoffend and create more innocent victims.”
In a statement, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin warned that Mamdani’s actions “will make New Yorkers less safe as a direct result of this policy,” citing data on 7,113 undocumented immigrants currently in custody across the state of New York with an active federal detainer.
McLaughlin listed offenses including 148 homicides, 717 assaults, 134 burglaries, 106 robberies, 235 dangerous drug offenses, 152 weapons offenses, and 260 sexual predatory offenses.
“Secretary Noem and ICE leadership are urgently calling on Mamdani to agree to release criminals in New York City’s custody to ICE before they are released back onto the Big Apple’s streets to victimize and prey on more Americans,” McLaughlin said.
She added that when local politicians bar cooperation with DHS, federal law enforcement must maintain a more visible presence to apprehend those released back into the community.
Asked about the rebuke at an unrelated press conference later on Friday, Mamdani argued that the polices “keep New Yorkers safe.”
“These are policies that are motivated by delivering public safety, not in spite of public safety,” he said. “Safety is what we’re motivated by. That’s what we’re going to deliver.”
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 religious diversity 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.
Code blue: Mamdani announces new shelter, outreach measures ahead of ‘lethal’ cold this weekend
With wind chills expected to plunge to around 10 degrees below zero this weekend, Mayor Mamdani announced a series of new emergency measures Friday afternoon aimed at getting homeless New Yorkers out of what he described as “lethal” conditions, as sanitation crews also prepared for another round of snow.
NYC remains under a prolonged Code Blue alert, triggered when temperatures or wind chills drop below freezing. Although a few afternoons briefly climbed above 32 degrees this week, Mamdani said the cold snap has been unrelenting and the coming days could be the most dangerous yet.
The number of people reported to have died outside during the cold snap remained at 17 as of Friday, the same figure officials shared the day before. Mamdani said preliminary data indicate 13 of those deaths were linked to hypothermia, three to overdoses, and one remains under investigation.
“These temperatures are too low and too dangerous to survive,” he said. “This is an all-hands-on-deck operation.”
In anticipation of the dropping temperatures, the mayor said the administration is adding about 65 new hotel-based shelter units this weekend for people who are reluctant to enter traditional congregate shelters.
It is also operating 62 warming centers and warming vehicles, reopening 10 public schools as temporary warming sites, and adding two new warming centers on CUNY campuses.
Two overdose prevention centers will remain open around the clock for their clients, and the city is also partnering with Northwell Health to open two additional warming facilities, the mayor announced.
Mobile warming operations are expanding as well, with the number of units increasing from 27 on Friday to 33 by Saturday night.
At the same time, Mamdani said the administration is ramping up street outreach across the five boroughs.
He announced a pilot program pairing outreach workers with formerly homeless New Yorkers, who will serve as peer counselors. Mamdani said people living on the streets often base their decisions on past experiences with shelters and city services, and peers who have lived through similar situations may be more effective at convincing them to come indoors.
The city is also partnering with the Association of Community Employment Programs, which employs people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and addiction, to assist in outreach efforts.
The city is partnering with the Association of Community Employment Programs, which employs people with histories of homelessness, incarceration, and addiction, to assist in the pilot outreach efforts.
Business improvement districts around the five boroughs are being asked to help connect people on the streets with shelter and services, while over 50 school nurses trained in direct outreach will join Department of Homeless Services teams.
Since the Code Blue period began Jan. 19, outreach teams have made more than 1,250 shelter placements, he said. Another 27 people were involuntarily transported after being deemed a danger to themselves or others.
The mayor said the policy around involuntary transport remains the same as under prior administrations. Outreach workers, nurses, or police officers can order someone brought inside if they determine the person cannot safely survive the conditions, including cases where someone is inadequately clothed for the weather.
Prior to the press conference, advocates said more aggressive steps would be needed this weekend to stop the death toll from climbing higher.
The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless called on the administration to deploy additional outreach workers to bring people indoors and to ensure that a lack of identification is not a barrier to entering shelters or services. They also urged the city to expand capacity in warming centers, warming buses, drop-in centers, Safe Havens, and single-room shelters, and to improve coordination among outreach teams, hospitals, and emergency providers.
The groups said hospitals should be fully informed about Code Blue policies and should not discharge anyone to the streets without a safe, warm place to go.
Meanwhile, the Sanitation Department earlier issued a winter operations advisory, effective at 6 p.m. Friday, as another round of snow moved in. Forecasters expect a coating to two inches beginning around 7 p.m. and lasting into Saturday afternoon, accompanied by dangerously cold wind chills.
More than 700 salt spreaders have been loaded in advance of the storm, with hundreds of millions of pounds of salt on hand. Sanitation workers remain on 12-hour shifts clearing snow and ice from the Jan. 25 storm, which dropped 12 to 15 inches across the city. Crews have already melted more than 230 million pounds of snow at 13 melter sites, and officials said every mile of roadway has been cleared along with thousands of bus stops and crosswalks.
Dispatching workers to new snow operations may slow trash and recycling collection, though service will continue. The department also urged residents to stay off the roads during active snowfall or to drive slowly if travel is necessary. Property owners remain responsible for clearing sidewalks, and about 3,000 summonses have already been issued since last week’s storm.
Mamdani urged New Yorkers to call 311 if they see someone who may need help. He said that in response to feedback, the administration recently changed the phone menu so callers can reach the homeless-assistance option in about 40 seconds, down from more than a minute previously.
LinkNYC kiosks are also displaying public service announcements and allowing people to call 311 directly to find a warming center.
He acknowledged the deaths and said the administration would review its response once the cold snap ends. For now, he urged people to stay inside if possible and to help spread the word about available resources.
“It may seem small,” he said, “but every single effort makes a difference in keeping New Yorkers safe.”
