Sanctuary Cities and ICE Enforcement

At his first annual interfaith breakfast Friday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani framed the city’s sanctuary status as a religious and moral obligation to "welcome the stranger," quoting the Bible, Quran, Torah and Bhagavad Gita while denouncing federal immigration agents for bringing "terror upon our neighbors." Before nearly 400 faith and community leaders at the New York Public Library, he signed Executive Order 13, which reaffirms and strengthens New York’s sanctuary laws and bars federal immigration agents from entering city property without a judicial warrant. Mamdani also announced a 'Know Your Rights' campaign that will distribute 32,000 flyers and booklets in 10 languages to clergy and congregations so immigrants understand what to do if approached by ICE or Border Patrol. He invoked his own Muslim‑Hindu upbringing to emphasize New York’s religious diversity and explicitly honored Renee Good and Alex Pretti, activists killed in ICE and Border Patrol encounters in Minneapolis, as examples of those who "cared for the stranger" at great personal cost. Coming as federal–city clashes over immigration enforcement and sanctuary policy intensify nationwide, the order signals that the country’s largest city is doubling down on legal and moral resistance to Trump‑era interior enforcement tactics.