Zohran Mamdani / NBC Meet The PressDemocratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has claimed that the policy of protecting illegal aliens from deportation has “kept New York safe for decades.”In an interview with NBC’s Meet The Press, Mamdani also pledged to “fight back” against ICE should he win election in November.Here is a transcript of the exchange:WELKER: Let’s talk about immigration and deportation. Are you committed to keeping New York as a sanctuary city?MAMDANI: Absolutely. Because ultimately, we’ve seen that this is a policy that has kept New Yorkers safe for decades. It’s a policy that had previously been defended by Democrats and Republicans alike until the fear-mongering of this current mayor.It’s a policy that we’ve seen ensures that New Yorkers can get out of the shadows and into the full life of the city that they belong to. And it’s one that I will be proud to stand up for.”WELKER: Well, you know, the borders are. Tom Homan has said that he is planning to deploy ICE agents to New York worksite enforcement to essentially increase and enhance the number of ICE agents here.If that happens on your watch, how do you plan to handle itMAMDANI: We have to stand up and fight back, and we haven’t seen that from our current mayor, who has instead been working with the Trump administration to assist in their goal of building the single largest deportation force in American history.I mean, we saw ICE agents arrest a migrant at Federal Plaza. We saw NYPD officers arresting a pastor who was peacefully observing that arrest.Those days are going to come to an end when I’m the mayor. The NYPD’s job is to create public safety in the city, not to assist ICE agents in their mission to attack the very fabric of this city.Watch the clip below:A proud Muslim communist, Mamdan’s other policies include defunding the police, introducing state-run grocery stores and “globalizing the intifada.”America, meet New York City’s Democrat Nominee for Mayor. pic.twitter.com/yDDyzBMtun— America (@america) June 25, 2025If elected in November, things in New York City are going to get much worse than they already are.Meet Zohran Mamdani: A Muslim Communist Who Wants to ‘Defund The Police’ and ‘Globalize The Intifada’/*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i