Democratic candidates for mayor of New York promise to protect immigrants

In a tight Democratic race for New York City mayor, the nine candidates have found little common ground. The only three things they seem to agree on are protecting the city’s immigrant population, distancing themselves from the Trump administration, and attacking one of their own, former state governor Andrew Cuomo, who was forced out of office in 2021 due to a sexual harassment scandal and is leading in all polls three weeks before the June 24 primaries.

This was evident after the first of two primary debates, which took place on Wednesday and marked the first face-to-face meeting between all the candidates. On the topic of immigration, the candidates were asked how they would respond to Donald Trump’s pressure to cooperate with his campaign of mass detentions and deportations. They all agreed that they would not give in to the president’s demands and criticized the current mayor, Eric Adams — who was not present at the debate, as he is running for reelection as an independent (after running as a Democrat in 2021) — for not doing more to stand up to the Republican on this issue.

“You cannot give in to Mr. Trump and his demands,” Cuomo said. Meanwhile, Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist state legislator who has emerged as a leading candidate in the race, behind only Cuomo in the polls, went a step further, arguing that New York City is “under attack by an authoritarian Trump administration.” “And I say that as someone who would be the first immigrant Mayor of this city in generations,” added Mamdani, who on Thursday received the endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the city’s most prominent progressive leader.

In a city where nearly 40% of the population is of foreign origin, immigration is a particularly pressing issue for voters — especially given the recent influx of migrants that has stretched New York’s capacity to accommodate and support more than 230,000 asylum seekers since the spring of 2022.

Mayor Adams has been accused of agreeing to collaborate with Trump’s anti-immigrant efforts in New York — long considered a safe and welcoming place for all immigrants — in exchange for the federal government dropping the corruption case against him. The mayor denies this allegation, but has toughened his stance on immigration and made concessions to the Trump administration, such as allowing immigration authorities to operate at Rikers Island jail for the first time in a decade (a move currently blocked by a judge).

New York is a designated sanctuary city, meaning local laws prevent them from cooperating with federal immigration services. All the Democratic candidates said they support this designation, despite the fact Trump has declared war on any jurisdiction that tries to stand in the way of his immigration campaign. They all said they would defend undocumented immigrants against raids by federal authorities. Brad Lander, the current comptroller of the New York City, said he was “proud” to co-sponsor the city’s sanctuary laws. “This is the future of New York City that we’re talking about,” he declared during Wednesday’s debate.

The tone of the rest of the debate was less civil, with the candidates focusing on discrediting Cuomo. For two hours, the former governor defended himself against a wide range of attacks from the other candidates, not only regarding the dozen sexual harassment allegations that forced his resignation nearly four years ago, but also his response to the coronavirus crisis that devastated the city and the federal investigation into whether he lied to Congress about his handling of the pandemic in nursing homes.

Other important issues for voters

Beyond immigration, housing and affordability, or the lack thereof, are other big issues that most concern voters in the Big Apple. It’s well known that the rising cost of living has hit New York harder than many other parts of the country. And the metropolis, which has some of the highest average rents in the United States and whose vacancy rates have reached historic lows, desperately needs more affordable housing. All the candidates — including Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa —argue they will address this crisis by building new housing, but it remains to be seen how they will fund their plans.

Another priority issue is public safety. Data shows that under Adams’s administration, murders and shootings have decreased, while violent incidents, such as assaults and robberies, have increased. Violence is particularly concerning in the city’s subways, which serve some 3.6 million people daily. Several subway incidents, such as shootings and stabbings, have helped create the perception that New York City is experiencing a safety crisis, which is why the current mayor has militarized the train system.

Democratic candidates have diverse ideas on how to address this problem: some want to hire more police officers to patrol the streets, while others promised to invest in social and mental health services to get the homeless off the streets and off the subways.

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