New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and state Attorney General Letitia James stood together Monday morning to announce new legal action aimed at protecting immigrant families, a move that lands as federal immigration enforcement across the city and region has reached some of its most aggressive levels yet. The 11 a.m. news conference in New York City was streamed live by CBS News New York, though the attorney general's office had released no additional details about the specific legal action before the announcement began.
The pairing of Mamdani and James is far from new. As CBS News New York reports, the mayor has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration's stance on immigration and its mass deportation efforts, and he used a July America250 speech to stress that immigrants are an essential part of the country. James, for her part, has built a legal record this year specifically aimed at pushing back on federal immigration enforcement in New York.
A Year of Escalating Sanctuary Measures
Mamdani's Executive Order No. 13, signed in February, restricts non-city personnel from using City lots for enforcement operations. Protections for non-public areas of public schools and homeless shelters are existing Administrative Code provisions, according to the NYC Mayor's Office. For public hospitals, the order instead encourages New York City Health and Hospitals to conduct a consistent audit. The order also prohibited city agencies from sharing information collected for city purposes with federal immigration authorities, per CBS News New York. That same month, Mamdani appointed veteran immigrant rights advocate Faiza Ali as Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs to oversee sanctuary policy compliance citywide, the NYC Mayor's Office says.
On the state side, James established the Office of Immigrant Trust within her agency in July, issuing formal administrative demands to a dozen local law enforcement agencies across New York to terminate their agreements with ICE, according to the Office of the New York State Attorney General. Weeks later, New York's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act took effect on August 25, statutorily banning state and local police from entering or maintaining formal Section 287(g) civil immigration enforcement partnerships with ICE, according to the New York State Governor's Office.
Sheriffs Push Back, James Sues
Not every county has fallen in line. City & State New York's reporting, cited alongside the governor's office, notes that Rensselaer County was the only agency that had not indicated an intent to dissolve its agreement with ICE. The Office of the Attorney General issued a subpoena, and a lawsuit was described as the first legal action brought by James's Office of Immigrant Trust. The law was signed on May 27, 2026, and a lawsuit was announced on August 27, 2026.
The stakes of that legal fight were underscored just weeks later. On September 1, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced that federal agents had arrested more than 2,100 immigrants across New York State during a monthlong sweep called Operation Rotten Apple, running from late July through late August, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Haitian TPS and the Fight for Legal Representation
Monday's announcement concerns protection of immigrant families broadly, and it arrives against the backdrop of the president's decision to end Temporary Protected Status for tens of thousands of Haitian immigrants — a humanitarian program for people facing unsafe conditions in their home countries. Advocates say the termination jeopardizes roughly 40,000 immigrants in New York City, per CBS News New York. James has already led a coalition of 17 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in February to preserve TPS for Haitian immigrants facing federal revocation, a fight Hoodline previously covered.
The legal representation gap facing New York immigrants remains a concern. An earlier joint effort saw Hochul, Mamdani, and James announce $7.25 million in state funding to provide legal counsel for roughly 1,400 unaccompanied migrant children facing deportation proceedings after federal legal aid contracts expired, as reported by City & State New York.
Municipal data has also illustrated the pressure federal authorities have placed on city agencies. An audit published in May under Executive Order 13 found the Department of Correction received 895 ICE detainment requests in 2025, according to Documented NY. With no further details on Monday's specific legal action confirmed publicly before the news conference began, City Hall and the attorney general's office are expected to release more information as the announcement unfolds.
