NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Went on MS NOW and Declared War on top Democrat Advisors

Zohran Mamdani just went after some of his own party's top advisors.

The sitting mayor of New York City said something Saturday that has Democrats in Washington genuinely rattled.

What he demanded they do next is exactly what their own strategists have spent years begging them to turn away from.

Mamdani Says ICE Should Be Abolished and There Is No Way to Reform It

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared on MS NOW's The Weekend on Saturday and renewed his call to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, telling the host there is "no way to reform this kind of cruelty."

MS NOW co-host Eugene Daniels asked Mamdani about conditions at Delaney Hall – an ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey – where detainees had been staging a hunger strike, and what was stopping a similar facility from opening in New York.

Mamdani's answer left no room for interpretation.

"I think there are a few things," he said. "One is a reaction of pain at seeing what people have to go through in these kinds of facilities. And these are conditions that – they offend the conscience of so many, not just here in New York City, but frankly across the country. This is partially why I have put forward a vision alongside so many others to say that ICE should be abolished, that there is no way to reform this kind of cruelty that we're seeing endemic in the way that immigration is being enforced across the country."

He then pointed to executive orders he signed in February barring city agencies and the NYPD from cooperating with ICE on immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.

The mayor of the largest city in America is proud that his city is actively working to block federal agents from doing their jobs.

Mamdani Tells Democrats to Ignore the Moderates and Defend Sanctuary Cities

That was only the first half of Saturday's interview.

Daniels asked Mamdani directly what he says to Democrats in Washington who argue "Abolish ICE" damages the party politically.

Mamdani fired back at his own leadership.

"I think we've listened to them before, and look where we are," he said. "I think it's time to develop a new vision for this party, one that is unflinching in its beliefs and also uncompromising in its principles."

This is the self-described democratic socialist who took office in January as mayor of New York City – telling the entire Democratic Party apparatus to stand down and get in line behind the hard left.

Even his own party's most senior figures aren't on board.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar told the Daily Caller as recently as December that he hadn't heard any Democrats calling for abolishing ICE.

Senators John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego have both publicly rejected the movement.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned members of his party directly against making it a campaign position.

Mamdani brushed every one of them off.

Why Democrats Fear Abolish ICE Will Backfire Like Defund the Police

The parallel is impossible to miss – and senior Democrats know it.

In 2020, the party's hard-left wing pushed "Defund the Police" as a rallying cry.

It cost them House seats, handed Republicans a winning attack line for years, and the party's own strategists spent the better part of two election cycles trying to bury it.

Now the same playbook is back, with "Abolish ICE" in the starring role.

Fox News reported Sunday that Democrats are already warning the slogan will backfire the same way "Defund the Police" did.

Mamdani doesn't care.

The push to abolish ICE has lived on the hard left since 2018, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar both ran on it in their congressional victories.

It stayed on the fringe for years.

Now the mayor of the country's most powerful city is recruiting the entire Democratic Party to adopt it as a platform position.

Border Czar Tom Homan answered on Fox & Friends Monday by promising to flood New York City with more ICE agents, not fewer.

Homan has said repeatedly that sanctuary cities draw more enforcement operations, not less – and that no local executive order has any bearing on what federal law authorizes.

"You're not going to shut down ICE enforcement, you're certainly not going to abolish ICE, and you're not going to stop us from doing our job," Homan said.

Mamdani invoked a Nigerian national – Chidozie Wilson Okeke, who overstayed his visa and carried prior arrests for assault and drug possession – as evidence of ICE's cruelty.

The Trump administration called it a routine, lawful enforcement action.

The 2024 election delivered a clear verdict on immigration.

Mamdani's answer to that verdict is to tell his party the path forward runs straight through the most radical position his base will accept.

Homan said it best when Mamdani first won his primary last summer.

"Game on."

Sources:

• Pam Key, "Mamdani: 'ICE Should Be Abolished' — 'No Way to Reform This Kind of Cruelty'," Breitbart, June 6, 2026.
• Lindsay Kornick, "Mamdani urges Democrats to fully embrace the 'Abolish ICE' message," Fox News, June 7, 2026.
• "Tom Homan vows to send more ICE agents to New York City amid Mamdani pushback," Fox News, June 8, 2026.
• "More Dems Than Ever Want To Abolish ICE. What's Their Plan If They Succeed?" The Daily Caller, February 12, 2026.
• Nicholas McEntyre, "Trump's border czar Tom Homan delivers stark warning to Zohran Mamdani after NYC primary win: 'Game on,'" New York Post, June 2025.