ICE and New York City during the second Trump presidency

Throughout the second presidency of Donald Trump, the president's mass deportation campaign and deployment of ICE agents in New York City has been a contentious topic in city politics. Hundreds of anti-ICE protesters have been arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and their controversial Strategic Response Group (SRG).

In 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided street vendors at Canal Street. In 26 Federal Plaza, ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory check-ins, clashed with journalists, and arrested elected officials trying to access immigrants detention facilities inside the building. The SRG arrived at request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and arrested protesters for obstructing an ICE vehicle from leaving the facility.

In the wake of military deployments in the nation's capital and threats from Trump to deploy the National Guard in NYC, many New Yorkers feared they would be next. Mayor Eric Adams, who previously cooperated with ICE, asked Trump not to send the military to the city. In late 2025, then-mayoral candidateZohran Mamdani promised to uphold the city's sanctuary status when elected, accusing Trump of being a fascist and pledging to prohibit the NYPD from assisting ICE. Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani if Mamdani passed sanctuary laws and released misinformation about Mamdani's immigration status on social media. During his mayoralty, Mamdani has engaged in cordial meetings in the Oval Office with Trump, despite the two continuing to publicly trade attacks.

After Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge, NYC activists organized protests as part of the 2026 nationwide protests against ICE. The day after the killing of Good, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem visited the One World Trade Center where she announced Operation Salvo, an NYC prolonged ICE operation that has led to increased ICE presence in the city. Later that month, peaceful protesters occupied a Hilton Hotel accused of housing ICE agents, and the SRG arrived and arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave. In May, hundreds of activists rapidly organized and prevented ICE agents from leaving a hospital with an injured undocumented immigrant, but when the NYPD arrived, they arrested protesters and made room for ICE agents to leave unobstructed. Following the hospital incident, Senior ICE official Tom Homan has repeatedly threatened to "flood" the city with ICE agents.

NYPD interactions with ICE agents have sparked outrage from advocates and elected officials who claim the NYPD has facilitated ICE arrests and therefore is not upholding NYC's status as a sanctuary city, contrary to Mamdani's promises otherwise. Mamdani has praised both protesters, for exercising their First Amendment rights, and police officers, for their presence at protests.