Mayor Mamdani met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Thursday to talk about how to stop ICE from enacting an immigration enforcement surge in New York similar to the one that has wracked Minnesota.
The City Hall confab came as feds said they plan on withdrawing federal agents from the midwestern city over the next few weeks.
“Mayor Mamdani appreciated his meeting with Mayor Frey at City Hall,” Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani said after the meeting. “They discussed their shared values when it comes to keeping our cities safe as well as standing up for our vibrant immigrant communities.”
Frey, speaking to reporters on the steps of City Hall on his way into the meeting, said that he hopes to “determine some of the next steps.”
“We want to make sure what happened in Minneapolis does not happen in other cities and states throughout the country,” Frey said. “We want to make sure our immigrant neighbors are protected and mayors work together, you know? We’re all operating in the reality business.”
Frey added that the federal government’s crackdown on his city “is not constitutional, is not OK and is anti-American,” and that he’s been encouraged by the mass protests against the Trump administration in his city.
Federal agents shot to death two civilians on the streets of Minneapolis, setting off protests nationwide as well as sending tens of thousands to the streets in that city.
New York City so far has avoided a surge of immigrant enforcement agents at that level.
Mamdani has called for the abolition of ICE and is a frequent and staunch critic of President Trump. Despite that, the two shared a remarkably friendly meeting at the White House shortly after his general election victory, and the two have a texting relationship.
