Democratic mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani blasted Mayor Eric Adams for his willingness to collaborate on President Trump’s immigration crackdown following federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting a couple of dozen people at Manhattan courts on Wednesday — an operation City Hall says it was not involved with.
Mamdani, an Assembly member representing western Queens, charged that it was Adams’ cozy relationship with Trump that allowed ICE agents to swarm federal immigration courts and make numerous arrests on May 29. The agents detained both migrants showing up to their routine immigration court dates, and observers inside facilities at 26 Federal Plaza and on Varick Street in Lower Manhattan.
The Assembly member, who is running in second place behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the June 24 primary, said during a Thursday morning news conference that the ICE action is a continuation of Trump’s “attacks on New Yorkers.”
“In this moment when New Yorkers need a mayor who will fight for them, they instead have one who has offered collaboration with the Trump administration in this moment when New Yorkers need a mayor who will stand up for each and every person,” Mamdani said outside of 26 Federal Plaza.
Adams is running for re-election as an independent in the November general election after withdrawing from the Democratic primary last month.
The mayor has insisted that local law enforcement only works with ICE on criminal investigations involving migrants and not to go after new arrivals simply for being in the country illegally, which are civil matters — in keeping with the city’s sanctuary laws. He said earlier this week that migrants getting detained at routine court dates is a federal issue over which he has no control.
Adams’ spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus issued a statement to that effect: “In keeping with the local law, New York City did not coordinate with ICE on these operations and has not discussed it with federal agencies.”
Mamelak Altus added that the city is encouraging those with questions or who have loved ones who have been detained to contact the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ support hotline (800-354-0365) or reach out to its legal support center.
Mamelak Altus also accused Mamdani of trying to “capitalize on the immigrant community’s anxiety by misleading New Yorkers for political gain.”
“To be clear, the Adams administration has never — and will never — coordinate with the federal government on civil deportation matters, in accordance with local law,” she added.
Mamdani also took aim at Cuomo, charging that he has not been critical enough of Trump’s moves to detain immigrants in the five boroughs.
“They see Mr. Cuomo offering cowardice and unwillingness to critique a Trump administration policy because of the fact that he is funded by the same donors that put Donald Trump in Washington,” Mamdani said, referring to Cuomo’s campaign receiving large sums from Trump-aligned donors.
Cuomo team blasts Mamdani’s ‘hollow rhetoric’
Cuomo has called Trump an “existential threat,” and his team has defended him as the best-equipped candidate to take on the president, given Cuomo’s past experience dealing with Trump as governor.
In response to Mamdani, Cuomo’s spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said, “It’s nothing more than hollow rhetoric from a silver spoon socialist with a flair for performance art, whose paper thin career in public service consists of passing three bills in Albany — a place where literally thousands of pieces of legislation are voted on each year. New Yorkers know the candidate in this race best equipped to take on Trump is the one who already has, and that’s Andrew Cuomo.”
Mamdani said that as an immigrant himself, he will take a much harder stance against Trump on the issue than either Adams or Cuomo.
“And I stand here just blocks away from where I got my citizenship, not that many years ago, making it clear that I will stand up for each and every New Yorker, and I will do so no matter the threat to Trump,” he said.
The lawmaker also outlined a couple of ways that he would advocate for the city’s undocumented immigrants.
First, Mamdani said he would safeguard the city’s sanctuary status and ensure that ICE agents are not allowed inside city facilities. Under current city law, federal immigration authorities are barred from city buildings unless they present a warrant signed by a judge.
Second, he said he will boost funding for funding for legal services for migrants getting swept up by ICE.
“We know that when a New Yorker has legal representation amidst these kinds of detention proceedings, they have an 11-fold increase in their chances of being reunited with their families,” he said.
