{"id":136261,"date":"2026-02-17T16:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136261\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:44:10","slug":"zohran-mamdani-picks-new-chief-immigration-officer-who-worked-for-controversial-muslim-nonprofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136261\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani picks new chief immigration officer who worked for controversial Muslim nonprofit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to appoint the ex-chief of staff for former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to serve as NYC\u2019s chief immigration officer, sources said.<\/p>\n<p>Faiza Ali \u2014 who worked with Mamdani on the Muslim Democratic Club of New York board \u2014 will be appointed commissioner of the Mayor\u2019s Office of Immigrant Affairs, according to sources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a time when immigrants are facing <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/17\/us-news\/georgia-public-school-teacher-killed-in-car-crash-as-illegal-immigrant-flees-from-ice-agents\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">escalated and unprecedented attacks<\/a>, we will prioritize strengthening protections, expanding access to legal and language services, and building real pathways to stability for New York City\u2019s diverse immigrant communities,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/mayor-mamdani-to-tap-faiza-ali-former-nyc-council-staffer-as-chief-immigration-officer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ali said in a statement to Gothamist<\/a> after the news broke.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38516054\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/faiza-ali-speaks-onstage-stand-121545367.jpg\" alt=\"Faiza Ali speaks at the We Stand United NYC Rally.\" class=\"wp-image-38516054\"  \/>Faiza Ali worked for CAIR, which has faced controversy for its ties to other Islamic groups Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>She was the first Muslim woman to hold a first deputy chief of staff position with the City Council, according to the outlet, and has served several of the city\u2019s Muslim-American organizations throughout her career \u2014 including time as community affairs director for the controversial activist group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).<\/p>\n<p>Her time with <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/02\/28\/us-news\/hamas-linked-organization-cair-inc-wont-reveal-where-their-funding-is-coming-from\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CAIR is likely to stir controversy,<\/a> as the organization\u2019s executive director notably celebrated Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on Israel, calling the Jewish state an \u201coccupying power\u201d and saying Gaza was \u201cbreaking the siege.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That director later said his words were taken out of context, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/meet-mamdanis-radical-advisory-circle-that-includes-communist-activist-anti-israel-advocates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to Fox News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to appoint the ex-chief of staff for former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[446,301,25634,57,9,24,55,54,56,58,82],"class_list":["post-136261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-adrienne-adams","tag-city-council","tag-council-on-american-islamic-relations","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}