Three new city positions will staff the committee tasked with protecting New Yorkers from federal immigration enforcement
The City’s Shield Against Federal Enforcement
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is actively recruiting staff for the Interagency Response Committee, a crisis team created under his first major immigration executive order, signed February 6, 2026. Three job listings appeared on the city’s employment portal in early March, signaling that the administration is formalizing its defense structure against what it characterizes as unlawful federal overreach by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
What the Committee Does
The committee was established to enforce the February 6 executive order, which prohibits non-city law enforcement from using city property without a judicial warrant, protects the data of New York residents from federal seizure, and requires city agencies to appoint dedicated privacy officers. Its broader mandate, according to the job postings, extends to tracking all federal actions that could impact the city and its residents. First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan chairs the committee. It also includes Ramzi Kassem, the city’s chief counsel, and Bitta Mostofi, a special adviser who previously served as the city’s chief immigration officer under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Context: The Trump Threat
The committee’s creation follows an escalating pattern of immigration enforcement by the Trump administration. Federal authorities threatened to “flood the zone” with ICE officers in sanctuary cities. In October 2025, ICE conducted a raid on Canal Street in Manhattan that triggered a large protest. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly denounced New York’s sanctuary policies. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Mamdani’s order “puts New Yorkers in danger,” adding that ICE agents “wouldn’t have to be in the field in New York City if we had state and local cooperation.”
The Mayor’s Position
Mamdani has been unequivocal. “This order is a sweeping reaffirmation of our commitment to our immigrant neighbors and to public safety as a whole,” he said when signing the executive order. The city has also prepared 30,000 guides to residents’ rights in 10 languages, distributed as fliers and booklets in communities the administration describes as “heavily targeted.”
Legal and Community Support
Make the Road New York, a major immigrant advocacy organization, praised the order as reflecting “the urgency of this moment.” Make the Road New York has documented dozens of cases in which city shelter workers potentially violated sanctuary law by allowing federal agents onto city property without warrants, incidents that the Mamdani administration has called unacceptable. The administration has required all major public-facing agencies — including those overseeing police, jails, shelters, health and child welfare — to audit their sanctuary policies and make necessary adjustments.
The Hiring and What It Signals
That three new permanent positions are now being filled is a signal that Mamdani is treating immigrant defense not as a temporary posture but as a standing operational function of city government. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has argued that cities that institutionalize immigrant protection through dedicated staff and formal inter-agency coordination are better positioned to limit harm during enforcement surges than those relying on ad hoc responses. New York’s approach under Mamdani may become a model — or a flashpoint — as the Trump administration’s deportation campaign continues to scale up nationally.
