New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is encouraging immigrants to “stand up to ICE” in a video released amid recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in the city.
Days after immigration raids in Manhattan, Mr. Mamdani told immigrants they have a right to refuse to speak to or comply with U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the social media video posted Sunday.
“We can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights,” he said in the video.
He warned people that immigration agents are legally allowed to lie, to which people have the right to remain silent.
Residents can film agents without interfering and refuse agents’ requests to enter private spaces, Mr. Mamdani said, adding that they cannot enter homes, schools or nonpublic workplace areas without a judicial warrant signed by a judge.
Mr. Mamdani alleged that some agents show false paperwork to make an arrest, including a visual example in his video.
ICE recently swept through a neighborhood near New York’s Chinatown, prompting a gathering of protesters. Mr. Mamdani, a socialist Democrat who will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, promised to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional right to protest in the video.
New York’s first Muslim was born in Uganda to parents of Indian origin before moving to New York City at 7 years old. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.
In his video, Mr. Mamdani said he could protect the city’s millions of foreign-born residents.
“New York will always welcome immigrants, and I will fight each and every day to protect, support, and celebrate our immigrant brothers and sisters,” he said.
President Trump targeted the mayor-elect while Mr. Mamdani was campaigning, falsely suggesting that he was in the U.S. “illegally.” He also threatened to arrest Mr. Mamdani if he blocked ICE raids in New York.
The president has made cracking down on immigration a top priority since returning to the White House and has declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and deployed hundreds of troops to large cities.
Mr. Trump said he could cut funding to New York and “take over” the city if Mr. Mamdani won. But a meeting between the two in the Oval Office two weeks ago shifted the narrative.
In their surprisingly cordial meeting, Mr. Trump said that he would feel comfortable moving back to his hometown with Mr. Mamdani as mayor.
