“I just reviewed an operational plan,” Homan told the news network. “I’m not going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, but it’s coming.”

A day later, Homan, who has reasserted himself as Trump’s top border adviser after former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander in chief Greg Bovino were fired following the deaths of two anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis amid citywide sweeps for illegal immigrants, adopted a different tone on SiriusXM’s Cuomo Mornings radio show.

Host Chris Cuomo asked Homan whether his interview with Fox News should be perceived as a threat to New York City, which has already been the backdrop of several ICE arrests.

“Oh, absolutely not,” Homan told Cuomo in response, adding, “You will not see a Minnesota.” 

HOMAN: ‘MORE ICE AGENTS THAN YOU’VE EVER SEEN’ HEADED TO MAMDANI’S NYC

“It’s gonna be a controlled operation,” he said. “Every day we leave the office, and we know exactly who we’re looking for, more likely where we will find them, because we have a targeted operation. We have a folder on each target. It’s not gonna be driving around looking for people that we have no idea who we’re looking for.”

Simultaneously, the White House is dismissing any speculation regarding the New York City operation that has not been announced by the administration.

“The Trump administration remains committed to enforcing federal immigration law,” a White House official told the Washington Examiner. “Illegal aliens can be arrested no matter where they are located.”

Similarly, a DHS spokesperson reiterated that “for operational security purposes,” the department never confirms “the location of our officers.” 

“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across each of the 50 states, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” the source said. 

The New York City operation had hinged on negotiations between Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and the Trump administration regarding state and local cooperation with federal authorities concerning immigration law enforcement, particularly related to whether ICE officers can arrest illegal immigrants already in state or local law enforcement custody.

Cooperation with ICE had decreased after Mamdani replaced former New York City Mayor Eric Adams in January at Gracie Mansion.

“If I can’t arrest the bad guy in the county jail, I gotta send the team to look for him,” Homan told Cuomo. “So, what I said is, now that we lost these efficiencies of the jails, we have to send more agents to do the same job we did with less agents. That was my point.”

Then, Hochul, last month, signed legislation into law that, aligning with New York and New York City’s statuses as a sanctuary state and city, restricts state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE. 

The legislation included a prohibition on state and local law enforcement from being party to so-called 287(g) agreements, under which local officers are deputized to investigate and arrest individuals on behalf ICE, protecting schools, hospitals, houses of worship, and community centers from ICE raids without a warrant, in addition to not permitting ICE agents to wear masks while permitting New York residents to sue federal agents in state court if their civil rights are infringed by an agent.

But although Mamdani’s inauguration has decreased cooperation with ICE, New York-based Republican strategist Evan Siegfried contended it has increased political opportunities for the GOP before November.

“If the administration does their New York City ICE operation and launches it post-Labor Day, who do you think is going to be the national spokesperson for Democrats by default?” Siegfried asked the Washington Examiner. “Zohran Mamdani.”

“Every Democrat, whether they’re in the middle of Nebraska to New York City and everywhere in between, they’re going to have to answer for what Mamdani says, and Mamdani doesn’t care about national Democrats,” he said. “He’s said it himself. He said that national Democratic leaders need to get on board with abolishing ICE.”

Mamdani did say during a press conference this month that ICE is a “reckless,” “rogue agency” that “delivers nothing towards the furthering of the cause of public safety” and “should be abolished.”

“What we’ve had in the interim is a federal entity that has been operating with a level of impunity, and that has to come to an end,” the mayor said.

Spokespeople for Hochul and Mamdani did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.

For Siegfried, ICE has been able to “recover” some of its public perception with the introduction of new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and time, but he agreed the agency has to be “very careful” in how it pursues its New York City operation.

“They can’t go over the top,” he said. “They can’t go overly militant and appear like an invading force.”

But though the White House has sought to downplay the “purely speculative” idea that a New York City ICE operation would be political, Siegfried argued that “everything in Washington is political.”

“Implementing policy is inherently political,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Democrats are confident they can respond to Republican attempts to one-up them using immigration in New York City and elsewhere, with Trump’s approval rating regarding the policy area now being in negative digits, coinciding with concerns with respect to the economy.

The battleground for that argument could be Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) 17th Congressional District in the nearby lower Hudson Valley.

The Cook Political Report considers Lawler’s race to be a toss-up contest before his Democratic opponent is decided in Tuesday’s primary election.

“On issue after issue, the American people are souring on Republicans and their disastrous agenda that is making everything more expensive, ripping healthcare away from millions, and making our communities less safe,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Riya Vashi told the Washington Examiner. “When it comes to the overreach of ICE agents who are violating civil liberties and detaining law-abiding American citizens, the American people are with us as well.” 

“Democrats remain committed to pushing for real accountability that protects civil liberties, improves public safety, and secures our borders,” Vashi said.

GOP IRAN CRITICS PIN BLAME ON VANCE, SIDESTEPPING TRUMP CRITICISM

Spokespeople for the National Republican Congressional Committee and Lawler did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment, but Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar repeated that “New York and other sanctuary cities have become an illegal immigrant’s paradise, granting handouts from voting rights to free healthcare.” 

“Americans do not want criminals receiving these benefits,” Bomar said. “This is why President Trump securing our borders and removing illegal immigrants is so important. Americans deserve these benefits, not those who entered our country illegally.”