New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said he is prepared to face arrest over his opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, disclosing details of a private, closed-door conversation with President Donald Trump in which he challenged the role of federal immigration enforcement in the city. The remarks underscore a looming confrontation between the incoming mayor and the Trump administration over immigration, public safety and local authority in the nation's largest city.
Speaking in an interview with MS Now, Mamdani framed potential legal consequences as a price he is willing to pay for his campaign's core promise to protect immigrants. "I'm prepared for any consequence that comes for standing up for New Yorkers," he said, adding that informing residents of their legal rights is a civic duty. "I'm proud to inform people of their rights, and I can't think of a more American thing to do than to speak about the protections that we all have under the law."
His comments followed warnings from Homeland Security Secretary Christy Nome that guidance from city officials on how residents should respond to ICE visits could violate federal law. Mamdani acknowledged the risk, arguing that confrontation with federal authorities has precedent among Democratic leaders. "Anybody that stands in the way could be arrested," he said, citing California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as examples of officials who resisted federal immigration enforcement.
Mamdani said his private meeting with Trump focused on the impact of ICE operations in New York City, particularly enforcement actions at 26 Federal Plaza. He described the case of a six-year-old boy from Queens who was separated from his father during a raid, noting that the father remains detained in upstate New York while the child's whereabouts are unknown. "These kinds of raids are cruel and inhumane and do nothing to serve the interests of public safety," Mamdani said.
He told the president that New York does not require federal immigration agents to maintain order. "We have the NYPD here. We trust the NYPD to deliver that public safety. We do not need ICE and the National Guard to make that same case," Mamdani said.
The mayor-elect emphasized the scale of the city's immigrant population, noting that more than three million New Yorkers were born outside the United States, including himself. He reaffirmed the city's sanctuary policies and argued that federal officers are not exempt from accountability. "If an ICE agent is breaking the law, then that is a law that they should be held accountable to," he said, referencing city measures designed to limit mass enforcement actions in public spaces such as subways.
While immigration dominated the interview, Mamdani also raised New York's affordability crisis as part of his message to Trump. He said rising rents, utilities and basic costs are driving residents out of the city. "The first thing I think about is the first of the month for New Yorkers and how it's still a time of trepidation," he said.
Mamdani argued that affordability, public safety and municipal services are inseparable policy challenges, and that federal immigration enforcement does not advance the city's interests. As he prepares to take office, his willingness to risk arrest signals that immigration will remain a defining and contentious issue in New York's relationship with the Trump administration.
