In a Thursday night appearance on CNN’s AC360, New York City mayoral contender Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani made it clear that, if elected, he would prevent the NYPD from collaborating with federal agencies on civil immigration enforcement. He argued that the department’s job is to focus on the city’s own issues rather than carry out federal directives.
Host Anderson Cooper pressed him on the subject, asking, “So, what do you do if he decides to — we already saw there was an ICE action on Canal Street. They said they were targeting undocumented immigrants who were selling counterfeit bags, which, on Canal Street, is kind of — there’s a long history of that, obviously. What do you do?”
Mamdani was quick to respond. “I think this is an example of what is unacceptable in this country. I think the first thing that you do is you close the door that Eric Adams opened to the NYPD doing civil immigration enforcement. He said that on national television. The second thing you do –.”
Before he could continue, Cooper interjected with a pointed question: “So, you would not allow the New York Police Department to engage or to cooperate with ICE or DHS?”
Mamdani replied decisively, “Not in civil immigration enforcement. We have sanctuary city laws where we’ve made very, very clear that, for a set of serious crimes, there is coordination with the federal administration. But anything beyond that, beyond that, I think, 172 crimes that are listed, that is something for the NYPD to focus on purely right here in New York City.”
Mamdani’s remarks drew a sharp line between federal immigration enforcement and local policing, underscoring his belief that New York’s sanctuary city policies should remain firm. By closing what he called the “door” opened by Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani said he would return the NYPD’s priorities to serving New Yorkers exclusively — not acting as an arm of federal immigration authorities.
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