Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons discouraged New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani from refusing to collaborate with his agency.
Mamdani, who will take office on Jan. 1, instructed NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch “to ensure no officers are assisting with the actions of ICE” in an interview with PIX11 News.
“What I say to any one of these elected officials that don’t want to support or help ICE is: it’s never the right choice to pit law enforcement against each other,” Lyons said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Thursday. “Men and women of ICE are doing a sworn law enforcement mission. We are making communities all across the country safer to include New York City. We’re going to keep doing our mission.”
“If we don’t receive help from the locals or states, then, while we appreciate if we can get it, we’re still gonna go out and we’re going to make America safe again,” Lyons added. “We’re going to achieve that mission that the president and Secretary Noem wants us to do of getting all the bad guys off the streets, no matter where sanctuary jurisdictions try to hold us back.”
Tisch has served under New York Mayor Eric Adams since November 2024. She previously supported collaborations with ICE. Months into her tenure, Adams allowed ICE to open an office at Rikers Island prison.
Tisch, who has spoken with Mamdani many times, said she’s ready to serve under his administration. Mamdani, who has criticized law enforcement, praised Tisch’s work.
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“I have admired her work cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Together, we will deliver a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve alike are safe, represented, and proud to call New York their home.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the NYPD and Mamdani for comment.
