Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order reaffirming New York City’s sanctuary protections and launched a citywide “Know Your Rights” campaign, his administration announced February 6, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement escalated detention and enforcement operations across the city and surrounding region. The order, announced at the first annual Interfaith Breakfast of his administration before what the mayor’s office said were nearly 400 faith and community leaders, came amid a months-long confrontation between local officials and federal immigration authorities that has run from Lower Manhattan courthouses to the Hudson River waterfront.
According to the mayor’s office, the executive order protects the privacy and data of immigrants and all residents, bolsters restrictions on federal immigration enforcement on city property, initiates an audit to confirm city agencies are complying with sanctuary laws, and establishes a committee to coordinate crisis response across city government in the event of escalating federal immigration actions. Independent coverage noted the order also requires ICE agents to obtain judicial warrants before enforcement on city property, part of what CBS New York described as protections against “abusive immigration enforcement.” The administration said its “Know Your Rights” push would distribute nearly 32,000 multilingual flyers and booklets to faith institutions across the city. “As ICE fosters a culture of suspicion and fear, let this city of strangers set an example for how to make the sorrows of others our own,” Mamdani said, according to the release. “Let us offer a new path — one of defiance through compassion.” Make the Road New York, the immigrant-rights group, issued a statement commending the mayor’s action to protect New Yorkers.
The mayor’s order followed a sharp expansion of federal detention infrastructure in and around the region. Envision Freedom Fund said February 5 that new reports showed federal immigration officials scouting warehouses across New Jersey and New York to dramatically expand detention capacity, with facilities planned for Roxbury, New Jersey, and Chester, New York. The organization said ICE had already spent more than $189 million purchasing warehouse facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and that local officials have warned they have limited power to block federal detention facilities because such sites are exempt from zoning regulations. Rosa Santana, identified by the group as its executive director, said in a statement that the fund had “answered hundreds of calls from people trapped inside ICE detention facilities,” describing accounts of “medical neglect, inedible food, freezing temperatures, and incredible trauma.” Santana called 2025 “the deadliest year on record for ICE detention,” citing more than 30 deaths, including that of Jean Wilson Brutus at Delaney Hall in New Jersey, where the group said 12 emergency 911 calls were made in just three months.
