The day after ICE shooting in Minneapolis, Kristi Noem comes to NYC

One day after a federal immigration agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in her car in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came to New York City to tout ongoing immigration operations within the five boroughs. And to take a few shots at Mayor Zohran Mamdani, slamming the new mayor for his response to the shooting. 

"Your mayor just said in that statement that he is going to stand with illegal people who have broken our law before he's going to put New York City citizens first," Noem told a sea of reporters at One World Trade Center Thursday afternoon, referencing the statement Mamdani put out Wednesday. "His job and why he was elected is to protect the people who live here … Instead, the mayor in that statement chose to stand with illegals instead of those individuals who just want the chance to raise their families in New York City.”

Mamdani responded in an interview on PIX11 later Thursday. “I’m not sure what she’s actually referring to in that statement,” he said. “What I’ve been doing is standing up for each and every New Yorker across the city as the mayor of this city. What I will not do, however, is differentiate New Yorkers on the basis of their documentation. If you live here, I am your mayor.”

While the newly inaugurated mayor called the shooting a murder, describing it as “only the latest horror in a year of cruelty,” Mamdani’s post on X didn’t directly refer to New Yorkers’ citizenship status, as Noem suggested. “As ICE attacks our neighbors across America, it is an attack on us all,” Mamdani said. “New York stands with immigrants today, and every day that follows.”

Protests erupted across the country in wake of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good’s death, several of which unfolded in New York City over the past 24 hours. Mamdani didn’t give a definitive answer when asked on PIX11 about whether he would deploy the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group – which he has said he wants to eliminate – to respond to any protests in the city. But said he still has concerns about the unit and is committed to creating a new response to New Yorkers exercising First Amendment rights. “The first response that we will have from the NYPD will be that of Community Affairs,” he said.

Dueling narratives about what led to the fatal shooting of the U.S. citizen have only fueled the national firestorm. While Noem and other federal officials’ attempted to paint the incident as a justified act of self defense, state and local officials adamantly disputed their claims. Video of the shooting appears to contradict the Trump administration’s account.

Noem mentioned neither the shooting nor the national outrage throughout the majority of the Thursday press conference. It wasn’t until the end, facing a flurry of questions about the incident, that she doubled down on her earlier rhetoric – and took that shot at Mamdani. 

Flanked by top customs and homeland security investigation officials, Noem instead touted the success of a multi-agency operation in New York City that she said led to the arrests of 54 individuals "loosely affiliated" with the Dominican American Trinitarios gang. That includes two suspects charged with the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent in Washington Heights this summer. She and other speakers repeatedly attributed the incident to New York elected officials, blaming sanctuary city and bail reform laws for allowing alleged gang members to live in the city undetected. Department of Homeland Security communications with the mayor’s office and the New York City Police Department have not been productive, Noem added. “I’d encourage the leaders in this city and your governor and in other cities and states across this country to work with us rather than opposing us,” she said.  

Noem’s appearance in New York City coincided with a flurry of protests defending immigrant New Yorkers – underscoring the deep division between its leaders and the Trump administration over the issue. Last year, ICE arrested more than 3,200 people in New York City as of mid-October – 57% of whom were subsequently deported. Data released by the New York Immigration Coalition last month found that about 70% of the people detained by ICE have no criminal conviction or previous record.

“Noem’s baseless and spurious attacks on the city’s sanctuary policies are designed to incite fear among residents and try to bully NYC Mayor Mamdani into abandoning our city’s vital sanctuary policies,” New York Immigration Coalition President and CEO Murad Awawdeh said in a statement. “The facts are clear: cities with sanctuary policies like ours keep communities safe. No changes to these policies are needed or warranted. New Yorkers will not be intimidated by DHS Secretary Noem or anyone else.”

Earlier Thursday morning outside 26 Federal Plaza, a coalition of elected officials, legal service providers and advocates urged the state to invest $175 million into immigrant legal services and to pass legislation to provide legal representation to immigrants facing deportation. As federal immigration enforcement escalates against New Yorkers, the New York for All Act – which would bolster sanctuary protections for immigrants – and the ​Access to Representation Act has gained momentum going into a new legislative session. The latter, along with a newer measure known as the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense Act, were at the heart of the Thursday rally.

“This is not the time to nitpick about what we should or should not do,” Senate Majority Leader Michael Gianaris said. “We need to do all of it.”