US President Donald Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan delivered a fiery response to NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s vow to expel ICE from city facilities, warning the progressive Democrat that the federal government is ready to escalate operations in sanctuary cities like New York.
“It’s game on,” Homan said bluntly speaking with Fox News, a day after Mamdani declared victory in the Democratic primary over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani’s pledge: “Kick the fascist ICE out”
Mamdani, 33, a state assemblyman from Queens and Democratic socialist, has made immigration policy a core pillar of his mayoral campaign.
“Zohran Mamdani will fight Trump’s attempts to gouge the working class and deliver a city where everyone can afford a dignified life,” his campaign website declares. “He’ll ensure our immigrant New Yorkers are protected by strengthening our sanctuary city apparatus: getting ICE out of all city facilities and ending any cooperation, increasing legal support, and protecting all personal data.”
He has vowed to “Trump-proof” New York City, accusing the President of using ICE to “pluck New Yorkers from their families.”
Homan: “Federal law Trumps him every day”
Homan dismissed Mamdani’s promises as political rhetoric with no legal standing.
“Federal law trumps him every day, every hour of every minute,” Homan said. “We’re going to be in New York City, matter of fact, because it’s a sanctuary city and President Trump made it clear a week and a half ago — we’re going to double down and triple down on sanctuary cities.”
ICE to ramp up in NYC, says Homan
The former ICE director said New York is now a top priority for immigration enforcement due to its sanctuary policies.
“We’re going to concentrate in sanctuary cities because we know they’re releasing public safety threats and national security threats back to the street,” Homan explained. “So we know we’ve got a problem there.”
He added, “Not only are we going to send more agents to the neighborhood, we are going to increase worksite enforcement tenfold.”
“We don’t have this problem in Florida”
Homan contrasted the situation in New York with Florida, where, he said, local law enforcement cooperates fully with ICE.
“We don’t have that problem in Florida, where the sheriffs work with us,” he said. “So we’re going to double up and triple up on New York.”