Zohran Mamdani sent a message to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents mere hours after handily winning the New York City mayoral election.
While speaking to reporters in Queens about his transition team, Mamdani was asked about recent ICE actions in the city. New York City courthouses have been flashpoints in ongoing standoffs between ICE agents and immigrant activists in President Donald Trump‘s second term. Masked agents have used the scheduled appearances of undocumented immigrants at courthouses across the country as an opportunity to detain them.
Mamdani: My message to I.C.E. Agents and to everyone across this city is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate the law, you must be held accountable.
And there is sadly, a sense that is growing across this country that certain people are… pic.twitter.com/2z2MKINhNB
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 5, 2025
“My message to ICE agents, and to everyone across this city, is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate the law, you must be held accountable,” Mamdani said. “There’s sadly a sense that is growing across this country that certain people are allowed to violate the law whether that be the president or agents themselves. What New Yorkers are looking for is an era of consistency. An era of clarity and an era of conviction. And that’s what we will deliver to them.”
Mamdani hasn’t shied away from standing up for New Yorkers detained by federal immigration agents. In March, he confronted Trump border czar Tom Homan while Homan was visiting Albany. Held back by a police detail, Mamdani questioned whether Homan believed in the First Amendment and asked how many more New Yorkers Homan planned to detain. President Trump has since threatened to arrest Mamdani if he attempts to curtail ICE operations.
