First posted on Instagram
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over the city's sanctuary policies, arguing that they fuel illegal employment, identity fraud and crime, and demanding stronger enforcement against illegal immigration.
"These sanctuary politicians like Mayor MAMDANI, all they do is create MORE criminal activity that follows! Because every single illegal that entered the country illegally is also working in the country illegally!" Mullin said.
"And so it creates fraud, it creates abuse. You cannot get a house and rent a house unless you have stolen someone's ID if you're in this country illegally!" he added. "You cannot work for a company that's a legal company that's legally paying state and federal taxes unless you've created fraud!"
Mullin's argument is that limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement create openings for illegal employment and identity fraud, and that sanctuary policies therefore produce more crime rather than less.
Supporters of sanctuary policies argue that local governments should protect immigrant communities and avoid turning local police into federal immigration agents — the position Mamdani has taken as he has defended New York's sanctuary laws.
The clash is the latest round in a running confrontation between the Trump administration and New York's leadership over immigration enforcement. Earlier in October, Mullin publicly condemned Mamdani over New York's refusal to honor federal immigration detainers, citing Department of Homeland Security data that 16,070 ICE detainer requests had been refused since January 20, 2025, covering 52,503 charges or convictions, including homicides, kidnappings and sexual offenses. Mullin said at the time: "Illegal aliens have no sanctuary in America... We enforce these laws with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul."
The dispute also follows an October 8 ICE shooting in the Bronx, after which Mamdani called the wounded man a New Yorker and demanded ICE leave the city, while Mullin rejected that description and defended the officers.