Mamdani Challenges Trump on Immigration as NYC’s First Muslim Mayor

(NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA) Zohran Mamdani used his first moments as New York City’s mayor-elect to confront President Donald Trump over a promised immigration crackdown, telling supporters on November 5, 2025:

“To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
The declaration, delivered in a raucous victory speech after a tightly fought race, set the tone for a looming clash between City Hall and the White House over enforcement in the nation’s largest immigrant hub.

Mamdani’s win capped a heated contest in which he defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, a result that both jolted the city’s political establishment and drew clear lines on immigration and labor policy. The newly elected NYC mayor made history as the first South Asian and Muslim to lead New York, and he framed his victory as a mandate to defend millions of immigrant residents from stepped-up federal actions.

“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said, drawing sustained cheers at his election night event.

The speech came amid Trump administration threats to intensify immigration enforcement operations in the city, heightening unease among immigrant families and signaling legal and political tests ahead. During the campaign, Mamdani telegraphed that confrontation, warning that New York would resist federal tactics he views as punitive and destabilizing. He reiterated that stance during televised debates, saying, “Donald Trump ran on creating the single largest deportation force in American history… If he wants to talk about how to pursue the first and second piece of that agenda at the expense of New Yorkers, I will fight him every single step of the way.”

Mamdani treated the election as more than a change of leadership, casting it as a break with what he called a culture of impunity for the wealthy and well-connected. He addressed Trump directly from the stage, repeating,

“So hear me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,”
and adding, “After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” His remarks followed weeks of escalating barbs from Trump, who in a recent CBS 60 Minutes interview dismissed the 34-year-old as a “communist” and said he was “much better-looking” than the mayor-elect, an exchange that hardened partisan lines and ensured national attention on New York’s response to any upcoming raids.

With a crowd that included labor organizers, immigrant advocates and volunteers from across the boroughs, the Mamdani victory party doubled as a rallying point against federal policies. He pledged to use city authority to confront housing abuses, worker exploitation and what he described as preferential treatment for wealthy real-estate figures.

“We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labour protections, because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.”

His promise to fortify city protections for immigrants came as federal officials telegraphed a tougher stance in New York. Trump administration officials have threatened to increase immigration enforcement raids in New York City, a move that has stirred anxiety in neighborhoods where mixed-status families fear detentions and worksite operations. The White House has not released a detailed plan for the city, but officials have pointed to stepped-up use of existing powers wielded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mamdani’s supporters argue that New York’s policies on city services and local coordination can still blunt the disruption of an immigration crackdown, even as federal agents operate independently.

The confrontation also carries deep symbolism for a city where nearly 40 percent of residents are foreign-born, a fact woven through commerce, schools and street life. While the campaign often focused on immediate concerns—rising rents, fair wages, transit costs—the Mamdani victory functioned as a statement about identity and belonging.

“We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us. Together, we will usher in a generation of change and if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” he said.

Even before election night, the back-and-forth between the incoming NYC mayor and the president had drifted beyond policy into personal attacks and showdowns over tone. Trump’s comments on national television—calling the mayor-elect a “communist” and saying he was “much better-looking”—fed a cycle of insult and response that Mamdani answered with a local assertion of power. He said his administration would not only protect immigrants from what he called unjust enforcement but also pursue accountability for landlords and employers who, in his words, profit off fear and precarious status.

Mamdani also anchored his mandate in a broader vision of political change. Quoting India’s first prime minister, he told supporters,

“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru – a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.”
The choice of a Nehru passage underscored his theme that New York can set a national example as a counterweight to Washington’s direction.

That framing will now be tested by the practical realities of an aggressive federal posture. New York does not control federal immigration enforcement, and Trump officials have said they will pursue their agenda regardless of local objections. But Mamdani is betting on political leverage, city services, and the collective weight of state and local partners to push back. Advocates expect him to use legal tools and budget priorities to shield access to schools, health care and shelters regardless of status, while refusing to let police serve as a conduit to federal arrests. His words on election night—* “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant” *—were a promise to maintain that posture even if federal pressure intensifies.

For many in immigrant neighborhoods, the tone alone was a form of relief. The campaign, while short on specific new programs, cast the Mamdani victory as evidence that a coalition of renters, union members and first- and second-generation families could set the city’s agenda. Supporters argue that New York’s economy depends on immigrant labor in restaurants, home care, construction, delivery work and small retail, and that an aggressive series of raids would ripple through those sectors. Parents worry about school pickups and drop-offs if arrests spike near campuses, and business owners fear losing key workers with little notice. While the sources did not include individual cases, the overarching concern is that a broad immigration crackdown creates a climate of fear that damages daily life even when no arrests occur.

Mamdani’s adversaries, including many backing Sliwa and some of Cuomo’s centrist supporters, contend the new mayor’s promises are too sweeping and will collide with fiscal constraints and legal limits. But on election night he cast doubt on that skepticism, tying his platform to the city’s identity.

“After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” he said, directly invoking New York’s own complicated relationship with the president, whose brand and buildings still dot parts of Manhattan and Queens.

In the near term, New Yorkers will be watching whether federal agencies follow through on threats to increase operations in the city and what those actions look like. City agencies, immigrant legal clinics, and unions anticipate more calls for help and faster need for rapid-response support. Legal observers say courts may be asked to weigh whether certain forms of cooperation are required or optional, while community groups stress calm and planning. The mayor-elect has not yet named the full team that will handle these questions from day one, but the approach laid out in his speech suggests he plans to move quickly to formalize policies that line up with his rhetoric.

The political stakes extend beyond the five boroughs. Democrats across the country have watched the Mamdani victory for signals about how an unapologetically pro-immigrant message plays during a period of heightened national enforcement. For Republicans, the contest offered a test of whether the issue can be used to hammer urban leaders and mobilize voters. The clash between a newly elected NYC mayor and the president promises a visible national fight, one in which each side believes it can claim the mantle of public safety and fairness. Mamdani’s refusal to moderate his tone, instead repeating

“To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,”
made clear he sees confrontation as part of the job.

Behind the sharp words is a calculation about city resilience. New York has endured past periods of stepped-up enforcement, and the memory of those crackdowns informs the strategies now under discussion. Supporters of the incoming administration argue that the city’s dense network of services and civic groups can help families prepare documents, locate legal aid and understand their rights. While the source material did not provide details of specific legal directives or new funding, the general thrust of the Mamdani plan is to fortify the local safety net and insist that daily life in schools, hospitals and shelters continue without federal interference. He linked that stance to a broader effort to curb abuses by “bad landlords,” challenge “the culture of corruption,” and “stand alongside unions,” arguing that protecting immigrants is tied to stabilizing housing and work for everyone.

The tone of the victory night was defiant but also celebratory, with the symbolism of a mayor from an immigrant background foregrounded at every turn. The moment was framed not only as a political success but as a cultural marker, a message to families who see themselves at the center of the city’s story, not at its margins. That message threaded throughout Mamdani’s speech:

“We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us,” he said, promising that future fights would be met with “the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”

What happens next will hinge on whether federal officials escalate raids in the city, and how the new administration counters. If intensified operations arrive in the coming weeks, the first tests may come in workplaces and apartment buildings, layouts where city policy interacts awkwardly with federal authority. The Mamdani team will face pressure to sharpen protocols for schools and city agencies, to communicate clearly with residents, and to coordinate with legal aid groups. The mayor-elect’s words—

“So hear me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us”
—suggest he intends to make those steps visible and public.

New York’s political calendar now turns to the transition, where personnel choices could telegraph how aggressively City Hall will pursue these promises. Advocates will press for appointments with long track records in immigrant defense, tenant protections and labor enforcement. Business groups will look for signals that the administration will balance worker protections with economic growth. And the White House will be watching for any city measures it can challenge. The outlines of that struggle were drawn clearly on election night, when the Mamdani victory became a rallying cry against an immigration crackdown and, in the new mayor’s telling, a blueprint for how a city can meet a national challenge on its own terms.

As the crowd thinned and the stage lights dimmed, the words that defined the night lingered.

“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru – a moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.”
Whether that step transforms policy or collides with the realities of federal power will be the question that now follows New York’s next mayor into City Hall.