Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed his agencies to do more to actively protect New York City’s immigrant populations, following a City Hall audit of how city officials have been responding to President Trump’s aggressive deportation tactics.
The audit, released on Friday, was aimed at measuring how agencies have been following the city’s so-called sanctuary laws, which prohibit cooperation between city personnel and federal immigration officials.
The report revealed a dramatic increase of immigration enforcement actions in New York City under the second Trump administration. There were 5,567 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026, a 71 percent increase from the same number of days under the Biden administration.
Over half of these arrests were made at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, where asylum hearings, citizenship applications and mandated ICE check-ins are held, according to the report.
The Police Department received 3,672 requests for civil immigration detainers in the 2025 fiscal year, up from 99 requests the previous year.
Immigration advocates have often worried about city agencies working with and supporting federal immigration authorities. In December, the city Department of Investigation published a report finding that a New York police officer had assisted ICE, sharing information about people wanted by federal immigration authorities. In September, D.O.I. published another report finding similar collusion with ICE at the Department of Correction.
Some lawyers argued that these reports highlighted the need to ensure the Police Department and the Department of Correction protect people when releasing them from custody.
“We know this is not just a case of a few examples of bad apples,” said Rosa Cohen-Cruz, director of immigration policy at Bronx Defenders. “There’s more of a robust policy change needed.”
The mayor directed the Police Department to follow a new protocol where, after every 911 call reporting the presence of immigration authorities, the operations team must notify leadership and legal executives and send a patrol to the scene.
Earlier this month, the Police Department said it had “no prior awareness or coordination regarding the ICE operation” where federal immigration officials forcefully arrested a man who then needed medical attention. Hundreds of people later protested the arrest outside a Brooklyn hospital where the man was being treated.
The mayor also directed the Department of Social Services to revise its protocols on who can access city properties, following several reported instances in which immigration enforcement entered buildings without authorization last year.
Among the examples cited were incidents in April 2025, when ICE agents and other federal officials showed up at shelters in plainclothes and pushed their way past staff members, according to the report. In another incident, Homeland Security agents falsely identified themselves as Fire Department employees.
The audit included other examples where ICE agents seemed to misrepresent their intentions. In one case, ICE agents said they were attempting to do a “wellness check” on a child in the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services; in another, ICE agents asked to use the bathroom at a Department of Probation office, then tried to inspect the sign-in book.
The report is the result of an executive order Mr. Mamdani issued in February. The intent was to protect immigrant communities in New York City amid sweeping national raids; a committee was formed to audit city agencies and improve how they responded to federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The committee cited ways that orders of protection issued in family disputes can serve to place immigrant families at greater risk of deportation. The mayor directed A.C.S. to tighten its criteria for referring people for orders of protection, while still safeguarding children’s safety.
“The audit was a critical step towards strengthening compliance with our local laws and reinforcing New York City’s protections for immigrant communities,” Mr. Mamdani said.
Emma Goldberg is a Times reporter who writes about New York City and the Mamdani administration.
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