Mamdani’s Ability to Persuade Trump Hits Limit in Wake of ICE Shooting
New York Times · LC · trust 44/100
After a federal agent shot an immigrant in New York City, inciting protests, some of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s allies questioned his attitude toward the president and his own Police Department.
Listen · 8:46 min Share full article After an ICE agent shot a man during an arrest attempt in New York City, protesters accused Mayor Zohran Mamdani of doing too little to resist the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Credit... Dakota Santiago for The New York Times By Dana Rubinstein Jeffery C. Mays and Sally Goldenberg
Then, as he stood next to his police commissioner, Jessica S. Tisch, at a news conference Thursday night, calling for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, his words were nearly drowned out by protesters chanting, “Mamdani is complicit.” Blocks away, his Police Department was clashing with another set of protesters at the hospital where the shooting victim was being treated.
Mr. Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, has until now managed to maintain the steadfast support of his left-wing base while moderating some of his positions as he adjusts to a job often described as the country’s second hardest. He has kept as police commissioner Ms. Tisch, a technocratic billionaire who has criticized liberal policies on criminal justice. He has also developed a surprisingly warm relationship with Mr. Trump.
In a brief interview on Friday, the mayor insisted that the purpose of his friendly meetings with the president was “to ensure that we’re using every opportunity we have to deliver for this city.”
But after the shooting, that relationship failed him, raising immediate questions about its value in New York, a city of immigrants where Mr. Trump is broadly unpopular and where Mr. Mamdani’s left flank is increasingly restive both about Washington’s deportation campaign and about policing at the local level.
“What have we seen from the Trump administration for New York?” asked Alyssa Aguilera, the co-executive director of VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group for low-income New Yorkers. “Not much.”
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