Top New York officials assured Monday that they will not give in to a possible escalation of federal immigration actions, while President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, promised that a plan is already underway to significantly increase the presence of ICE agents in the city.
During an interview on Fox & Friends Monday morning, Homan said he has already revised an operational plan to deploy more Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to New York City than ever before. As he explained, the measure responds directly to legislation recently signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, which limits local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“You’re going to see more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen in New York City. And it’s getting close,” Homan said. “I just reviewed an operational plan. I’m not going to say exactly when it will happen, but it’s on the way.”
Homan maintained that the increase in operations is a direct consequence of legislation promoted by Hochul, which prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing masks during public interactions, prevents local agencies from collaborating with civil immigration enforcement and restricts ICE access to schools, hospitals and places of worship without a court order.
The official said he personally warned Hochul not to sign the legislative package, arguing that limiting cooperation in prisons would force agents to make arrests in communities instead of in controlled environments.
“Instead of one officer arresting a dangerous person inside a jail, we now have to send an entire team into a neighborhood to locate them,” Homan said. “Cooperation with prisons is safer for the community, for officers and for immigrants. Still, she signed the legislation.”
Hochul responds: “I’m not going to ask him.”
Hours later, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan, Hochul responded that she does not feel intimidated and revealed that Trump personally assured her that he would not send federal agents to New York without her consent.
“President Trump told me directly, in front of a group of governors, ‘I’m not going to New York unless Kathy asks me to,’” Hochul said. “And I’m not going to ask him. That’s never going to happen.”
The governor also pointed to recent events in Minneapolis as a warning to the federal administration, mentioning the deaths of two civilians during protests in that city.
Hochul has insisted that the legislation does not protect criminals.
“New York is not a sanctuary for criminals,” he declared when signing the law. “We will cooperate when crimes are committed.”
Mamdani criticizes ICE
For his part, Mayor Zohran Mamdani went further during a separate press conference on Monday. He described the ICE raids as “cruel” and “inhumane” and assured that they do not contribute to public safety.
“I believe that ICE, as an entity, should be abolished and that we should return to an immigration system with more humanity at its core,” Mamdani said.
Latinos account for the majority of arrests
An investigation by The City Reporter, based on more than 1,200 complaints filed between October 2025 and March 2026, identified 430 ICE arrests on the streets of the New York metropolitan area. According to the report, more than 93% of those detained were Latino, despite the fact that this group represents approximately 66% of the region’s undocumented population.
It is not the first time that Homan has issued a warning of this type. Both he and Trump have repeatedly promised to dramatically expand ICE’s presence in New York, though the administration has so far not carried out those threats with the same intensity seen in other Democratic-run cities and states.
The renewed warning comes after several weeks of protests outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, where activists support detainees who report poor conditions, including accusations of food contaminated with maggots. ICE has categorically denied that there is a hunger strike at the facility.
Homan also highlighted a sweeping immigration and border security bill currently moving through Congress. As he explained, the new funds would allow ICE’s operational capacity to be significantly expanded during the rest of the Trump administration.
“We are already making historic arrest numbers under President Trump,” Homan said. “With additional funding, we will maintain momentum and continue moving forward.”
