Homan: ICE Raids in NYC Will Continue Despite Mamdani’s Victory
President Donald Trump’s top immigration advisor, Tom Homan, made it clear Wednesday that the administration has no plans to scale back immigration enforcement efforts in New York City following the election of socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“We will continue operations. Nothing changes,” said Homan, who now serves as Trump’s Border Czar after previously leading Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His comments to The Daily Wire came just one day after Mamdani secured the city’s top office on promises to expand sanctuary policies and shield illegal immigrants from deportation.
Mamdani, 34, has long positioned himself as an outspoken critic of ICE, calling the agency a “rogue operation” that prioritizes chaos over law.
“It is the actions of masked men in unmarked cars picking up Americans and New Yorkers, whether they’re going in for a regular immigration check-in or they’re just in their apartment lobby like Mahmoud Khalil,” Mamdani said in a past interview with far-left host Mehdi Hasan.
The newly elected mayor has pledged to block ICE from accessing city resources, maintain sanctuary city protections, and pour $100 million into taxpayer-funded legal defense for illegal immigrants. He called that pledge a “cornerstone” of his campaign and told voters he would fight “to stop ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.”
But the Trump administration isn’t backing down.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed back hard Wednesday, warning that Mamdani’s policies will only embolden criminal aliens and put New Yorkers at risk.
“When sanctuary politicians ignore ICE detainers, they are protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens,” said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
“ICE is arresting and removing barbaric criminals with prior convictions for rape, murder, [and] drug trafficking,” she continued. “Instead of holding them for ICE, sanctuary politicians release them back into your communities. These reckless policies have deadly consequences.”
McLaughlin emphasized that DHS would continue to place detainers, enforce immigration law, and defend public safety “because every American deserves to feel safe in their own neighborhood.”
Despite Mamdani’s calls to defund ICE and insulate illegal immigrants from federal enforcement, the Trump administration appears to be preparing for a legal and logistical showdown in the nation’s largest city.
Homan’s vow to continue operations signals that immigration enforcement under Trump’s second term will not be dictated by local politics, especially in jurisdictions openly defying federal law.