New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani denounced the Trump administration's Border Czar Tom Homan during a heated confrontation at the state Capitol on Wednesday.
"How many more New Yorkers will you detain?" Mamdani asked Homan in a clip shared to his X account. "How many more New Yorkers without charge? Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan?"
The 34-year-old New York representative then spoke to the media, championing the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and condemning politicians' "cowardice" for failing to do the same.
"When we asked Tom Homan, all he had to answer for that cruelty was a smirk because there is no answer for taking a man from his pregnant wife, who is due to deliver their newborn child in a month, from their Columbia University apartment, a day after that same man, Mahmoud Khalil, wrote to Columbia University and said he feared for his life," Mamdani stated.
Khalil, who graduated from Columbia University's graduate program in December, was a vocal supporter of Palestine and led the school's "Gaza Solidarity Encampment." He was arrested on Saturday and taken to Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana to be deported despite carrying a Green Card and being married to an American citizen.
"The cowardice that is on display across our city and our state is unacceptable," Mamdani continued.
"New Yorkers are looking to us, they are looking to their leaders for courage and for conviction, and what they are finding instead is collaboration. And that is just simply unacceptable," the mayoral hopeful added.
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
Homan was in New York to support Republican lawmakers' efforts to overturn laws blocking federal immigration agents from accessing motor vehicle records. The GOP is also aiming to overturn the state's sanctuary status. The likelihood of succeeding is low, however, since Democrats control both houses of the state Legislature, Times Union reported.
During a press conference, Homan announced the administration will increase security along the U.S.' northern border and that any government agencies working against Border Patrol agents in deporting undocumented citizens will get "exactly what they don't want ... more agents in their communities."
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