With less than a month to go until the mayoral race, tonight’s debates will pit the three top contenders against each other for the first time on the same stage.
While there are several issues the candidates don’t see eye to eye on, one notable exception is their take on New York’s status as a sanctuary city.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, while not a supporter of sanctuary city policies, has a stance on immigration enforcement that’s a departure from the Trump administration.
However, both Mamdani and Cuomo have stated that they would defend the city’s sanctuary city status.
As a sanctuary city, New York City agencies are barred from sharing information regarding immigrants with federal authorities unless a crime has been committed. Immigration officials cannot arrest immigrants at city or state facilities such as courthouses or shelters. City law enforcement agencies are also prohibited from honoring “detainer requests” from ICE in most instances in the event of a conviction of a violent crime.
New York’s status as a sanctuary city dates back to executive orders issued by the Koch administration in 1989, but the status became official city law in 2011.
Immigrants are vital to New York’s mosaic as the city is home to 3.1 million foreign-born residents, who speak over 800 languages. Affordability, transportation, and public safety all impact immigrants, however, the Trump administration’s aggressive anti-immigration agenda has pushed the question of immigration and the treatment of immigrants to the forefront of city politics.
Recent high-profile arrests of city and state elected officials at immigration courts and the 400% spike in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers in New York City have left many asking how the next mayor will respond.
In June, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New York City in an effort to dismantle the city’s sanctuary policy. Following the Trump administration’s suit, Mayor Eric Adams called for the city to modify its sanctuary protections for immigrants.
Also Read: Council Leaders Seek Probe of Possible NYPD Sanctuary City Violations
“That’s why the mayor supports the essence of the local laws put in place by the City Council — but he has also been clear they go too far when it comes to dealing with those violent criminals on our streets and has urged the Council to reexamine them to ensure we can effectively work with the federal government to make our city safer,” said Kayla Mamelak Altus, the mayor’s spokesperson, in a statement to The City in July.
The federal lawsuit is ongoing, and the City Council has continued to support the city’s sanctuary policies. In September, the City Council successfully blocked the Adams Administration from allowing ICE to open a field office on Rikers Island.
With New York’s status as a sanctuary city subject to intense debate and the looming threat of the Trump administration possibly deploying National Guard troops across the five boroughs, New York’s mayoral candidates have taken varying stances both in support and opposition.
Zohran Mamdani
Mayoral frontrunner and Democratic Party nominee, State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, has vowed to preserve the city’s sanctuary status. A Ugandan immigrant himself, Mamdani moved to New York City with his family when he was 7 years old. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, and if elected, he would become the city’s first immigrant mayor.
“We are fighting to keep this city a sanctuary city,” he said during a rally on Staten Island in August. “We will continue to uphold that status and ensure that we do not allow ICE agents entry.”
Mamdani’s rise has added fuel to President Trump’s growing threats against the city, including the threat to deploy troops to the city if Mamdani became mayor.
However, when asked how he would deal with a hostile Trump administration last week on The New Yorker Radio Hour, Mamdani vowed to be strong — but his answer was vague.
“It’s not about Donald Trump versus myself,” he said. “It’s about Donald Trump versus the city. And that’s why you need someone leading the city that can build a front of New Yorkers who have a wide variety of politics, but are united on the question of this city, and the importance of it, and the fact that the federal government shouldn’t be attacking the very existence of it.”
As an Assemblymember from Astoria, Queens, Mamdani has co-sponsored several bills aimed at strengthening the legal rights of immigrant New Yorkers. In January, he co-sponsored a bill that would provide the right to legal counsel in immigration court proceedings. He also co-sponsored another bill, which would prevent state, county, municipal, and local government agencies from entering into or renewing immigration detention agreements or receiving payments related to immigrant detention.
Both bills are still pending.
Andrew Cuomo
Trailing behind Mamdani in the polls by 13 points is former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent on the “Fight and Deliver” ballot line. Like Mamdani, Cuomo also defends the city’s sanctuary status.
On June 10, Cuomo announced his 6-Point plan in response to the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles on June 8. In his plan, he vows to guarantee immediate legal defense for those targeted by ICE as well as monitoring the NYPD to ensure they enforce the city’s sanctuary laws.
During his time in Albany, Cuomo had a proven track record of supporting immigrants. In 2017, he issued an executive order prohibiting state agencies from inquiring about individuals’ immigration status. The order also restricted state agencies from sharing immigration status between state and federal authorities, as well as using state resources in immigration enforcement. A year later, in 2018, Cuomo issued another executive order prohibiting ICE from entering state facilities to arrest undocumented immigrants without a judicial warrant.
In addition to his executive orders, while governor, Cuomo suspended New York’s participation in the federal “Secure Communities” program in 2011. The federal program, which began in 2008, shared personal data of every person arrested and fingerprinted from local jails with federal immigration authorities. As a result, the program led to the deportation of over 450,000 people between 2008 and 2014.
Yet, despite his track record of supporting undocumented immigrants while he was governor, Cuomo has been criticized by the Mamdani campaign for courting the Trump base to win the election. In August, The New York Times reported that during a fundraiser with business leaders, Cuomo said he did not“personally want to fight Trump.” The story also reported that Cuomo had several phone calls with the President, discussing the race — a claim that Cuomo denied.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
Curtis Sliwa
Unlike Mamdani or Cuomo, Guardian Angels founder and Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa opposes the city’s sanctuary laws. While he maintains that New York should remain a “city of compassion,” he also believes that sanctuary laws shield violent criminals from deportation.
However, Sliwa has pledged that he would not unilaterally revoke the city’s sanctuary status. Instead, he favors putting the question of the city’s sanctuary status directly to the voters through a ballot initiative, asking them if they want to repeal the city’s sanctuary status.
Sliwa also disagrees with the Trump administration’s deportation policy of detaining immigrants inside courthouses and detaining immigrants who have not been charged with a crime.
“I only support the president when they send ICE after the criminal element who are here,” said Sliwa in a NY1 interview from September. “Sex traffickers, ‘narcoterrorists,’ members of cartels, gang members, which I deal with all the time as Guardian Angels.”
