Nearly a year after President Donald Trump publicly said his administration would reverse steep cuts to New York’s counterterrorism funding, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that $87 million remains outstanding and warned that the shortfall could affect bomb squads and emergency management operations.
“Don’t play political games with people’s lives,” Hochul said. “Release the $87 million you owe us.”
On Oct. 3, 2025, the White House publicly announced that a $187 million reduction in New York’s homeland security funding would be reversed after Hochul and members of the state’s congressional delegation appealed to Trump. Hochul hailed the announcement at the time as a victory for public safety.
But almost 11 months later, state officials say the full restoration never materialized.
State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Terrence O’Leary said Tuesday that New York had initially been slated to receive $217 million before federal officials proposed reducing that amount to $30 million. He said litigation in which New York participated restored $100 million, leaving the state $87 million short of the earlier funding level.
“That has been a promise that is broken,” Hochul said.
Hochul said she called Trump after the original reduction and told him she was prepared to hold a press conference accusing him of “defunding the police.” Within days, she said, Trump announced the reversal.
Asked whether she had spoken directly with Trump about the money since then, Hochul said she had not. State officials, she said, have continued communicating with the Department of Homeland Security.
NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Christina Farrell said 110 members of her agency’s staff are funded through the Urban Area Security Initiative.
Farrell did not say those employees would be laid off if the money does not arrive, but said the grant supports Watch Command, Notify NYC and wireless emergency alerts, large-scale emergency exercises, the city’s emergency stockpile and logistics programs.
“There will be serious impacts on the way that we prepare New Yorkers and how we manage large-scale emergencies,” Farrell said.
She said the agency was working with the city’s Office of Management and Budget to determine how it would respond if the federal money does not come through.
Mamdani warns Bomb Squad at risk due to lack of funding
Mamdani also warned that the reduction could affect the NYPD’s ability to maintain its current bomb-squad capacity.
“This is a cut that will then impact our ability to have bomb squads here in New York City at the level that we have today,” Mamdani said.
The mayor said the money supports 12 certified bomb squads across New York, along with FDNY communications capabilities and training and equipment needed to respond to radiological threats.
“We are not talking about reports or studies or abstract security proposals,” Mamdani said.
O’Leary said the federal reductions would affect two grant programs. New York City would lose about $11 million through the State Homeland Security Program and about $55.6 million through the Urban Area Security Initiative, he said.
The funding supports NYPD intelligence and counterterrorism operations, FDNY hazardous-materials, search-and-rescue and special operations capabilities, as well as bomb squads, canine teams, National Guard deployments at transit hubs and cybersecurity operations, according to O’Leary.
The funding fight comes 10 days before New York marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and unfolded Tuesday alongside a separate clash between the Trump administration and New York officials over immigration and public safety.
At roughly the same time, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a separate press conference touting more than 2,100 immigration arrests across New York state during a roughly monthlong enforcement operation dubbed “Operation Rotten Apple.”
ICE officials said the operation ran from July 27 through Aug. 29 and included NYC, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and other parts of the state. They highlighted people arrested with records involving crimes including murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery, weapons offenses, drug trafficking and crimes against children.
Responding to Mullin
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin touted the ICE arrest of roughly 2,100 people in New York on Tuesday while threatening to send more federal agents into the city, accusing state and city leaders of hampering immigration enforcement.Photo by Dean Moses
Mullin accused Hochul and Mamdani of making New York less safe by limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. He acknowledged, however, that the operation was not limited to people with criminal convictions.
Responding to criticism that not everyone targeted by ICE was among the “worst of the worst,” Mullin said federal authorities would pursue people they determined were in the country unlawfully whether or not they had been convicted of another crime.
Hochul challenged Mullin’s characterization of the arrests.
“They consider anybody who crossed the border a criminal,” she said. “So don’t fall for that.”
Mamdani defended the city’s sanctuary policies, arguing they allow immigrants to report crimes to local law enforcement without fearing that interactions with police will lead to immigration enforcement.
“We are proud as New York City to be a city that has sanctuary policies,” Mamdani said.
He accused ICE of attempting “to criminalize the very fact of being an immigrant” and said immigration enforcement has left people fearful of leaving their homes.
ICE’s New York City field office director said sanctuary policies force federal agents to arrest people in neighborhoods, workplaces and public spaces rather than take custody of them directly from local authorities. He invoked the approaching 25th anniversary of 9/11, arguing that the attacks showed the importance of cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement.
Mullin also said he believed sanctuary jurisdictions should lose federal funding.
“I don’t think we should be sending one federal penny to sanctuary states and sanctuary cities,” Mullin said, adding that Trump was “looking at options.”
Mullin did not link that statement to the $87 million in counterterrorism funding sought by Hochul and Mamdani.
Asked whether New York officials believed the counterterrorism money was being withheld because of the state’s immigration policies, Hochul said they were not aware of such a connection.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication
Asked whether she would personally go to Mullin to retrieve the funds, Hochul replied: “I’ll go anywhere to pick up a check.”