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.”
The mayor has called for the abolition of the federal agency, which has attracted intense scrutiny in recent weeks for fatally shooting two civilians on the streets and the deaths of dozens in their custody.
“We know that there is no reforming something so rotten and so base,” Mamdani said.
His order requires agencies that connect with New Yorkers — including the police department and the departments of correction, probation, 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.
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 feds are not allowed to enter city property. It also stipulated that each city agency has 14 days to appoint a “privacy officer” and to conduct “Know Your rights” trainings for staffers.
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.”
