(DCNF)—Democratic Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani of New York City defended giving advice on resisting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Wednesday, saying he was informing New Yorkers “of their rights.”
Mamdani posted a video on X Sunday, instructing residents on how to obstruct ICE agents and claiming that a “warrant of removal” that is used to take illegal immigrants whose deportation has been ordered into custody, was invalid. Mamdani doubled down when asked about it by MS NOW reporter Jacob Soboroff.
“Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, said this week that, in response to that video you put out about knowing your rights, what to do if ICE comes knocking on your door, if you were mayor, you could have been violating the Constitution of the United States, and that she intimated that the Department of Justice might be looking into it,” Soboroff told Mamdani. “What’s your response to Kristi Noem?”
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“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,” Mamdani claimed.
On Nov. 29, rioters in New York City attempted to thwart an operation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have been the scene of multiple riots as opposition to the agency’s operations targeting illegal immigrants intensified.
During ICE operations in Chicago, agents were reportedly attacked by multiple assailants who used cars to ram vehicles. The Department of Homeland Security said in a Sept. 26 post on X there had been several violent attacks on an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois.
In Portland, Oregon, violent protesters reportedly attacked conservative journalists covering the riots at the ICE facility and also reportedly planned to use lasers against aircraft used by federal law enforcement agencies.
Two people were killed during a Sept. 24 shooting targeting an ICE facility in the Dallas area, when a gunman, who committed suicide, opened fire at the facility. In Texas, there were at least two previous incidents when shots were fired at ICE or Border Patrol facilities in July, with ten people being charged with attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with the incident in Alvarado, Texas.
