Mayor Zohran Mamdani blasted ICE agents in a fiery Friday speech — before signing a seemingly performative executive order for New York City to uphold its sanctuary city laws.
Speaking at his first Interfaith Breakfast at the New York Public Library — a long-running annual tradition that is supposed to foster unity — Hizzoner decried the actions of the Trump administration, raging that ICE was operating as a “rogue agency” throughout the country.
“Day after day we bear witness to cruelty that staggers the conscience,” Mamdani raged.
“Masked agents paid by our own tax dollars violate the Constitution and visit terror upon our neighbors. They arrive as if atop a pale horse, and they leave a path of wreckage in their wake,” he boomed, borrowing from the Bible. “It is a manifestation of the abuse of power.”
The young socialist mayor then declared to the packed room that he was signing an executive order to “uphold” the protections of New Yorkers, no matter their citizenship status.
“We will make it clear once again ICE will not be able to enter New York City property without a judicial warrant. That means our schools, our shelters and our hospitals,” he said.
However, the order doesn’t appear to do anything more to protect New Yorkers than what is already on the books.
“Signing executive orders that don’t do anything when everyone knows New York City has some of the strongest sanctuary policies is at best silly and at worst just draws the eye of the Trump administration at a time when we don’t need them thinking about us at all,” railed a Democratic operative.
The Big Apple’s sanctuary city laws already bar ICE from entering city property without a warrant, an issue that arose during the Adams administration when immigration agents entered a shelter without proper paperwork.
In addition, the directive handed down, which was later released by City Hall, orders agencies to conduct an audit to ensure they are following the letter of the progressive laws — an oversight function that the city’s Department of Investigation already does.
Last year, the DOI even dinged the NYPD and the Department of Correction for inadvertently sharing improper info, which were part of two separate reviews, and recommended a series of policy changes to prevent the issues in the future.
The order also creates a crisis response council to establish policy and develop plans for a myriad of crises in the city.
That, though, is already tasked to the team of 200 people at the Office of Emergency Management, which its website says is in charge of “coordinating citywide emergency planning and response for all types and scales of emergencies.”
Mamdani’s newly minted order additionally orders the training of city workers on Sanctuary City laws.
But, once again, that task is already in the hands of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
The full executive order was not immediately released for review.
“Maybe this plays well with the base on the campaign trail, but I really question the wisdom of bombastic tough-talk and a sham executive order that really does nothing but virtue signal, when the President has made it clear he wants to help our city succeed,” said Council Minority Leader David Carr (R-Staten Island).
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