New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that he supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing the federal agency of “terrorizing people” under President Donald Trump’s leadership and aligning himself with a growing faction of Democrats calling for its elimination.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, made the remarks during an appearance on ABC’s The View, where he was pressed on immigration enforcement amid renewed debate following recent events. The exchange came as Democrats on the panel referenced the shooting death of anti-ICE protester Renee Good in Minnesota earlier this month.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Mamdani directly where he stood on abolishing ICE and whether he believed the agency served any legitimate law enforcement purpose. Griffin framed the question around the intensifying rhetoric from Democrats who have increasingly targeted ICE in the aftermath of the Minnesota incident.
Mamdani left little room for ambiguity. He said plainly that he supports abolishing ICE, prompting loud applause from the studio audience and forcing him to pause briefly before continuing.
He then launched into an explanation of his position, arguing that ICE no longer fulfills its stated mission. According to Mamdani, the agency has abandoned its role as an immigration enforcement body and instead operates in a way that he claims instills fear regardless of immigration status or legal circumstances.
He said that ICE is “terrorizing people” without regard for the facts of the law or individual cases and complained about what he described as a steady stream of images showing people being forcibly removed from cars, homes, and their lives. Mamdani said he was tired of seeing such scenes and portrayed them as evidence that the agency has lost its way.
The comments place Mamdani alongside other Democrats who have recently escalated calls to dismantle ICE altogether. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan said last week that he plans to introduce legislation to abolish the agency, accusing it of committing “murders.” Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts has also declared that ICE “cannot be reformed,” signaling a hardening stance among progressive lawmakers.
Mamdani added that Americans are not seeing “humanity” from ICE agents and claimed there is a way to address immigration issues with compassion at both the city and national level. He said ICE has failed to demonstrate that approach for a long time and argued that its conduct undermines trust in government enforcement.
His remarks came as President Donald Trump pushed back forcefully against criticism of ICE, calling on the Department of Homeland Security and the agency to do more to publicize their arrests of violent criminals. Trump said ICE agents are saving innocent lives and pointed to crime statistics he said show nationwide crime at historic lows.
Trump urged DHS and ICE to release the numbers, names, and faces of the criminals they arrest, arguing that public transparency would shift support toward what he called the “Patriots of ICE” and away from “highly paid troublemakers, anarchists, and agitators.”
Mamdani’s appearance on The View underscored the widening divide between Democratic leaders in major cities and the Trump administration over immigration enforcement. While Trump and federal officials have emphasized public safety and criminal removals, Mamdani and other Democrats are increasingly calling for the agency itself to be dismantled, signaling that the fight over ICE is becoming a central flashpoint in the broader immigration debate.
