“How many more New Yorkers will you detain? How many more New Yorkers without charge?”
Trump administration border czar Tom Homan visited New York’s Capitol on Wednesday, where he was met with protests from leftists, including Assemblymember and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who appeared to try to push past the police line separating Homan from the protestors.
Mamdani was heard shouting at Homan as he pressed against the police line, asking “Do you believe in the First Amendment? Do you believe in the First Amendment Tom Homan?”
Mamdani wrote on X that he “confronted ‘border czar’ Tom Homan who came to Albany to do Trump’s bidding — push for mass deportations, carry out the assault on working class New Yorkers, and justify the unjustifiable detention of legal permanent resident and father-to-be, Mahmoud Khalil.”
Homan was seen walking past the group of protestors who chanted “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” inside the state Capitol in Albany. Homan was in Albany to press for the Hochul administration to work with ICE and DHS on Trump’s mass deporation plan.
At a press conference, Mamdani said, “When we asked Tom Homan, all he had to answer for that cruelty was a smirk. Because there is no answer for taking a man from his pregnant wife, who is due to deliver their newborn child in a month, from their Columbia University apartment, a day after that same man, Mahmoud Khalil, wrote to Columbia University and said he feared for his life.”
“The cowardice that is on display across our city and our state is unacceptable,” he continued. “New Yorkers are looking to us, they are looking to their leaders for courage and for conviction and what they are finding instead is collaboration. And that is just simply unacceptable.”
This comes after Homan said on Fox Business that resident immigrants in the country on a green card, visa, or other legal means can “absolutely” be deported. Khalil was arrested over the weekend over his participation in occupations and mass protests at Columbia University. His deportation has been temporarily blocked by a court.
“Absolutely we can,” Homan said. “I mean, did he violate the terms of his visa? Did he violate the terms of his residency here? You know, committing crimes, you know, attacking Israeli students, locking down buildings, destroying property. Absolutely. Any resident alien who commits a crime is eligible for deportation.” Homan said that Khalil is “one out of many.”
