Mayor Mamdani on Friday sounded off against ICE and issued an executive order aimed at putting an exclamation on point on the city’s existing sanctuary policies.
The order, which the mayor inked onstage at the annual Interfaith Breakfast, directs city agencies to audit their policies on dealing with federal immigration agents in order to assure all agencies are complying with New York’s sanctuary city laws.
“They arrive as if atop a pale horse, and they leave a path of wreckage in their wake,” Mamdani said of the agency, in a nod to the Bible’s Book of Revelation. “It is a manifestation of the abuse of power.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosts the first annual Interfaith Breakfast of his administration and announces new actions to uphold New York City’s sanctuary city laws and protect immigrant New Yorkers Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at the New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan, New York. (Ed Reed / Mayoral Photography Office)
The Trump administration slammed Mamdani’s order on Friday, saying the directive will make the city “less safe.”
“Mamdani will make New Yorkers less safe as a direct result of this policy,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
McLaughlin also demanded the mayor “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.”
The criticism comes after the president threatened to cut federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions across the country — though he missed his own Feb. 1 deadline to do so.
Mamdani said in response that his executive order was, “in part, a restatement of existing city policy.”
“Those are the things that keep New Yorkers safe,” he said at a Friday afternoon press availability. “Safety is what we’re motivated by. That’s what we’re going to deliver.”
Mamdani’s order requires agencies that connect with New Yorkers — including the Police Department and the departments of Correction, Probation, and Social Services — to conduct a 90-day audit of their policies on interacting with federal immigration authorities.
“This order is a sweeping reaffirmation of our commitment to our immigrant neighbors and to public safety as a whole,” Mamdani said when announcing it.
Sanctuary laws prohibit local agencies from coordinating with federal immigration authorities in mass deportation efforts and other civil enforcement. Mamdani’s order reiterated that, laying out that federal agents are not allowed to enter city property. The order also stipulated that each city agency has 14 days to appoint a “privacy officer” and to conduct “Know Your Rights” trainings for staffers.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosts the first annual Interfaith Breakfast of his administration and announces new actions to uphold New York City’s sanctuary city laws and protect immigrant New Yorkers Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at the New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Manhattan, New York. (Ed Reed / Mayoral Photography Office)
The mayor has called for the abolition of the federal agency, which has attracted intense scrutiny in recent weeks for the fatal of shooting of two civilians in Minneapolis and the deaths of dozens in their custody.
“We know that there is no reforming something so rotten and so base,” Mamdani said.
Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, praised the mayor’s directive in a statement.
“Mayor Mamdani’s announcement recognizes his responsibility to defend all residents from abusive immigration enforcement, and our moral obligation to protect our immigrant neighbors from these attacks,” Awawdeh said. “We applaud Mayor Mamdani for taking decisive action to fight for our immigrant neighbors.”