‘Good luck with that': Trump's border czar hits back at Mamdani's anti-ICE plan for NYC
US President Donald Trump's immigration chief Tom Homan has issued a fiery challenge to Zohran Mamdani, the newly victorious NYC mayoral primary candidate, after Mamdani vowed to 'kick the fascist ICE out of New York City.'
Responding on Fox Business' Kudlow a day after Mamdani's win, Homan scoffed, 'Good luck with that,' before adding: 'Federal law trumps him every day, every hour of every minute.'
'We're going to be in New York City, matter of fact, because it's a sanctuary city and President Trump made it clear a week and a half ago, we're going to double down and triple down on sanctuary cities.' he said.
Homan, tapped by Trump to spearhead his border crackdown, said agents would focus on areas 'releasing public safety threats and national security threats back to the street.'
Trump's border czar asserted that if immigration enforcement officials can't arrest people in jail, they would 'find them' in neighbourhoods or work sites, adding, 'so game on, we're coming.'
New: 🚨 Border Czar Tom Homan on Zohran Mamdani for wanting to protect illegal aliens who are p*dos and r*pists.
'Good luck. Federal law trumps him every day, hour, and minute. We're going to be tripling down in NYC.' 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/3N8Qy9evo9
— Jay 🇺🇸 Rapid Response Guy (@RapidResponseXY) June 25, 2025
The warning comes amid rising tensions over immigration enforcement in the Big Apple. Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and Queens assemblyman, declared victory in the June 24 Democratic primary with a pledge to 'Trump-proof' the city. His campaign criticised Trump's use of ICE to target immigrant families, and he pledged sweeping changes to protect undocumented New Yorkers.
But Homan made clear the administration has other plans: 'Not only are we going to send more agents to the neighborhood, we are going to increase worksite enforcement tenfold.'
In contrast, Homan praised current Mayor Eric Adams for cooperating with ICE on 'significant public safety threats' and helping trace the 300,000 missing children trafficked across the US. He described Adams as a law-and-order mayor whose 'hands are tied in many ways.'
Mamdani has clashed with Homan before. In March, he confronted him at the New York state Capitol and posted video of the encounter during his campaign. The Astoria politician was protesting ICE's arrest of anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, detained for allegedly lying on his visa application.
Today I confronted 'border czar' Tom Homan who came to Albany to do Trump's bidding — push for mass deportations, carry out the assault on working class New Yorkers, and justify the unjustifiable detention of legal permanent resident and father-to-be, Mahmoud Khalil. pic.twitter.com/hPRQrB6Ci6
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) March 12, 2025
Now, Homan says, the fight over immigration enforcement in New York City is far from over: 'We don't have this problem in Florida… so we're going to double up and triple up on New York.'
Meanwhile, Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday: 'It's finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line. Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We've had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous.'
Trump continued: 'He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he's not very smart, he's got AOC+3, Dummies ALL, backing him, and even our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin' Chuck Schumer, is groveling over him. Yes, this is a big moment in the History of our Country!'
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