New York, Jan 21 : New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday said he supports abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing that the agency has become a source of fear rather than a lawful immigration authority.
Speaking on ABC’s The View, Mamdani said he was disturbed by daily images of people being forcibly detained by immigration officers. “I’m tired of waking up every day and seeing a new image of someone being dragged out of a car, dragged out of their home, dragged out of their life,” he said.
“I am in support of abolishing ICE,” Mamdani added. “What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist.”
His remarks come as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement, surging ICE and Customs and Border Protection personnel into Democratic-led cities including New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. The operations have drawn sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers and sparked widespread protests, particularly following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Mamdani said ICE’s actions go beyond enforcing immigration law. “What it’s doing instead is terrorizing people—no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, no matter the facts of the case,” he said, according to The Hill.
Public opinion on the agency remains divided. An Economist/YouGov poll released last week found that 46% of respondents support abolishing ICE, while 43% oppose shutting it down.
The mayor reiterated that immigration policy must be rooted in humanity. “What we need to see is humanity, and there is a way to care about immigration in this city and this country with a sense of humanity,” Mamdani said. “What we’re seeing from ICE is not it.”
Mamdani has been a long-time critic of the agency. During his mayoral campaign last year, he described ICE as a “rogue agency” in an interview with journalist Mehdi Hasan, saying it was incompatible with a humane and orderly immigration system.
After taking office, Mamdani released a video advising migrants of their legal rights during encounters with federal immigration officers, including the right to remain silent and to refuse entry without a judicial warrant.
Last week, the mayor also expressed outrage over the detention of a New York City Council employee of Venezuelan descent who was reportedly detained during a routine immigration appointment despite having legal authorization to remain in the United States. City Council Speaker Julie Menin called the incident an “apparent overreach” and demanded swift federal action.
While several Democrats, including Sen. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Shri Thanedar, have echoed calls to abolish ICE, other leaders such as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have said they do not support dismantling the agency.