Mamdani’s Welcome of Former TPS Holders Sparks Calls for Criminal Prosecution

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Temporary Protected Status of Haitian and Syrian migrants, many of whom have been residing in the United States with the status for over a decade, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a video Thursday welcoming the former status holders to live in America’s largest city.

The court’s 6-3 decision would revoke the status of 330,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians.

“We stand here in solidarity with everyone concerned about today’s decision. If you are worried about what this means for your status, I would encourage you to call our Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs hotline,” Mamdani said.

Regarding the decision, Mamdani added that “it is something that we will never accept.”

The Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.

The mayor’s announcement has been met with backlash from conservative officials and former immigration officers.

Scott Mechkowski, the Oversight Project’s visiting fellow for deportation studies, told the Daily Signal that his prior experience working with ICE in New York reaffirms to him that nothing the mayor tries will stop deportation efforts from the federal government,

“Mamdani can refuse to help; what he can’t do is build a wall around this city. ICE operates in New York with or without him, and a phone number doesn’t keep a single work permit alive one day past the deadline,” he said. “Standing on a stage promising families he’ll keep them here, when he knows he can’t, isn’t courage. It’s handing scared people a lie and calling it hope.”

In a statement to the Daily Signal, Mateo Forero, the director of investigations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, described the mayor’s effort as “a blatant attempt to undermine federal immigration law” that criminally “obstructs” federal authority.

“By actively shielding removable aliens through sanctuary policies, legal hotlines, and public defiance, the mayor is actively and unlawfully obstructing federal authority over immigration enforcement,” Forero continued. “The Trump administration has the ability to use every available tool—including taking legal action, imposing funding conditions, and conducting direct enforcement operations—to counter the mayor’s defiance.”

Former Commander at Large of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Greg Bovino responded to the announcement by writing that Americans are “watching a replacement-level mindset being imported,” and he called for the federal government to take immediate action against the mayor.

“He’s choosing Haitians, Syrians, and whoever else over New Yorkers, all the while forcing citizens to pay for it with higher taxes and collapsing services. This can’t last,” Bovino said.

“Mayors don’t get to nullify federal law,” he continued. “Americans shouldn’t be forced to fund their own demographic decline. Where is the accountability? Or are we all supposed to pretend this is normal?”

New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino also responded to the post, writing that “Mamdani considers New York an independent city-state, with its own foreign policy, immigration policy, and economic policy.”

“He does not recognize the legitimacy of the federal government or even the United States as a nation to any extent beyond that which his party can directly control or benefit from financially,” she continued.

Paladino also called for the federal government to take immediate action.

“It is LONG PAST TIME for an appropriately severe reaction from the federal government. The Constitution is not a suicide pact. This is not politics, this is the enemy,” she added.