{"id":273031,"date":"2026-06-21T09:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/273031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T09:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:01:16","slug":"new-york-city-ice-operation-presents-mamdani-shaped-opportunity-for-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/273031\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City ICE operation presents Mamdani-shaped opportunity for GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The promised Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in New York City<\/a> is creating political problems for President Donald Trump<\/a> and Republicans before it has even begun.<\/p>\n

What should be a political boon for Trump and Republicans before November\u2019s midterm elections<\/a>, considering the president\u2019s record of support even among independents regarding his immigration <\/a>policies, could now be problematic after the botched operation that started in Minnesota<\/a> last December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those problems were underscored by Tom Homan<\/a>, Trump\u2019s border czar, this month, and his pugnacious appearance on Fox News<\/a> during which he pledged, \u201cYou\u2019re going to see more ICE agents [than] you\u2019ve ever seen in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just reviewed an operational plan,\u201d Homan told the news network. \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell you exactly when it\u2019s going to happen, but it\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day later, Homan, who has reasserted himself as Trump\u2019s top border adviser after former Homeland Security <\/a>Secretary Kristi Noem<\/a> and Border Patrol commander in chief Greg Bovino were fired following the deaths of two anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis amid citywide sweeps for illegal immigrants, adopted a different tone on SiriusXM\u2019s Cuomo Mornings radio show.<\/p>\n

Host Chris Cuomo asked Homan whether his interview with Fox News should be perceived as a threat to New York City, which has already been the backdrop of several ICE arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, absolutely not,\u201d Homan told Cuomo in response, adding, \u201cYou will not see a Minnesota.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

HOMAN: \u2018MORE ICE AGENTS THAN YOU\u2019VE EVER SEEN\u2019 HEADED TO MAMDANI\u2019S NYC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be a controlled operation,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery day we leave the office, and we know exactly who we\u2019re looking for, more likely where we will find them, because we have a targeted operation. We have a folder on each target. It\u2019s not gonna be driving around looking for people that we have no idea who we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, the White House<\/a> is dismissing any speculation regarding the New York City operation that has not been announced by the administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration remains committed to enforcing federal immigration law,\u201d a White House official told the Washington Examiner. \u201cIllegal aliens can be arrested no matter where they are located.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, a DHS spokesperson reiterated that \u201cfor operational security purposes,\u201d the department never confirms \u201cthe location of our officers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across each of the 50 states, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,\u201d the source said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The New York City operation had hinged on negotiations between Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> (D-NY), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, and the Trump administration regarding state and local cooperation with federal authorities concerning immigration law enforcement, particularly related to whether ICE officers can arrest illegal immigrants already in state or local law enforcement custody.<\/p>\n

Cooperation with ICE had decreased after Mamdani replaced former New York City Mayor Eric Adams<\/a> in January at Gracie Mansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can\u2019t arrest the bad guy in the county jail, I gotta send the team to look for him,\u201d Homan told Cuomo. \u201cSo, what I said is, now that we lost these efficiencies of the jails, we have to send more agents to do the same job we did with less agents. That was my point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, Hochul, last month, signed legislation into law that, aligning with New York and New York City\u2019s statuses as a sanctuary state and city, restricts state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legislation included a prohibition on state and local law enforcement from being party to so-called 287(g) agreements, under which local officers are deputized to investigate and arrest individuals on behalf ICE, protecting schools, hospitals, houses of worship, and community centers from ICE raids without a warrant, in addition to not permitting ICE agents to wear masks while permitting New York residents to sue federal agents in state court if their civil rights are infringed by an agent.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Get Out The Vote rally ahead of New York\u2019s primary election, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo\/Ryan Murphy)<\/p>\n

But although Mamdani\u2019s inauguration has decreased cooperation with ICE, New York-based Republican strategist Evan Siegfried contended it has increased political opportunities for the GOP before November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the administration does their New York City ICE operation and launches it post-Labor Day, who do you think is going to be the national spokesperson for Democrats by default?\u201d Siegfried asked the Washington Examiner. \u201cZohran Mamdani.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Democrat, whether they\u2019re in the middle of Nebraska to New York City and everywhere in between, they\u2019re going to have to answer for what Mamdani says, and Mamdani doesn\u2019t care about national Democrats,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s said it himself. He said that national Democratic leaders need to get on board with abolishing ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani did say during a press conference this month that ICE is a \u201creckless,\u201d \u201crogue agency\u201d that \u201cdelivers nothing towards the furthering of the cause of public safety\u201d and \u201cshould be abolished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve had in the interim is a federal entity that has been operating with a level of impunity, and that has to come to an end,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Hochul and Mamdani did not respond to the Washington Examiner\u2018s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

For Siegfried, ICE has been able to \u201crecover\u201d some of its public perception with the introduction of new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/a> and time, but he agreed the agency has to be \u201cvery careful\u201d in how it pursues its New York City operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t go over the top,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can\u2019t go overly militant and appear like an invading force.\u201d<\/p>\n

But though the White House has sought to downplay the \u201cpurely speculative\u201d idea that a New York City ICE operation would be political, Siegfried argued that \u201ceverything in Washington is political.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImplementing policy is inherently political,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Democrats are confident they can respond to Republican attempts to one-up them using immigration in New York City and elsewhere, with Trump\u2019s approval rating regarding the policy area now being in negative digits, coinciding with concerns with respect to the economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The battleground for that argument could be Rep. Mike Lawler\u2019s (R-NY) 17th Congressional District in the nearby lower Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n

The Cook Political Report considers Lawler\u2019s race to be a toss-up contest before his Democratic opponent is decided in Tuesday\u2019s primary election.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn issue after issue, the American people are souring on Republicans and their disastrous agenda that is making everything more expensive, ripping healthcare<\/a> away from millions, and making our communities less safe,\u201d Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a> spokeswoman Riya Vashi told the Washington Examiner. \u201cWhen it comes to the overreach of ICE agents who are violating civil liberties and detaining law-abiding American citizens, the American people are with us as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocrats remain committed to pushing for real accountability that protects civil liberties, improves public safety, and secures our borders,\u201d Vashi said.<\/p>\n

GOP IRAN CRITICS PIN BLAME ON VANCE, SIDESTEPPING TRUMP CRITICISM<\/a><\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the National Republican Congressional Committee<\/a> and Lawler did not respond to the Washington Examiner\u2019s requests for comment, but Republican National Committee<\/a> spokeswoman Delanie Bomar repeated that \u201cNew York and other sanctuary cities have become an illegal immigrant\u2019s paradise, granting handouts from voting rights to free healthcare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans do not want criminals receiving these benefits,\u201d Bomar said. \u201cThis is why President Trump securing our borders and removing illegal immigrants is so important. Americans deserve these benefits, not those who entered our country illegally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The promised Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in New York City is creating political problems for President Donald…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[153,2035,426,9,24,55,54,56,12195,82],"class_list":["post-273031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-donald-trump","tag-ice","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-washington-d-c","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273031","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=273031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}