NEW YORK — Following a federal judge’s dismissal of the federal government’s lawsuit seeking to strike down New York City’s sanctuary laws, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani released the following statement:
“This is a victory for New Yorkers and a rebuke to ICE’s deportation agenda. The federal government came to court seeking to force New York City to turn its public servants into deportation agents and divert our resources toward carrying out ICE’s cruel agenda. Today, they lost. The court made clear that the federal government has no standing to bring this case and cannot commandeer our City workers to do its bidding. Our local laws make New York City safer. They allow us to focus our resources on protecting and serving our communities and ensuring that every New Yorker can turn to their City government without fear that asking for help will make them a target for deportation.
The federal government wants to use fear to divide our city. We will not let them. We will continue to uphold our local laws and use every tool at our disposal to protect New Yorkers from ICE’s abuses. Our city belongs to all of us, and we will not abandon our neighbors to satisfy an inhumane, xenophobic agenda.”
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