Mayor Mamdani says he supports abolishing ICE, calls for ‘humanity’ in dealing with immigration issues
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears on The View, on Jan. 20, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani returned to ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday to discuss his first weeks in office and weighed in on the controversial surge by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) across the country.
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Mamdani about the calls by some Democrats to abolish ICE in light of their activities in places such as Minnesota, where an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three.
The 34-year-old mayor, who has vowed to protect New York immigrants, said he supports those calls.
“I am in support of abolishing ICE, and I’ll tell you why: Because what we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist,” said Mamdani, whose Tuesday appearance marked his first time on the show since becoming mayor in the past month.
Mamdani, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Uganda, has been critical of ICE for many years. Last year during his campaign, he said in a June interview that ICE is “a rogue agency, one that has no interest in laws, no interest in order.”
The mayor echoed those sentiments on “The View” Tuesday.
“We’re seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some sort of immigration law, but instead, what it is doing is terrorizing people no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, and no matter the facts of the case,” Mamdani said.
“And I’m tired of waking up every day and seeing a new image of someone being dragged out of a car, dragged out of their home and dragged out of their life. What we need to see is humanity,” he added.
Last week, the mayor said he was “outraged” after a New York City council employee was detained by ICE in Long Island during a routine immigration appointment.
“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values,” he said in a statement on X on Jan. 13. “I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”
The Department of Homeland Security contended in a statement that the employee is in the U.S. illegally and has an alleged criminal history that includes an arrest for assault. The agency did not provide additional details on the assault arrest.
City officials, however, said the employee has legal status.
Mamdani was asked by “The View” hosts about his relationship with President Donald Trump following their cordial meeting in the White House after the mayor won his election.
The mayor said that it is his intention to be honest and direct with the president, especially when it came to immigration.
“It’s terrifying to see what is happening in the name of public safety. I’ve said this to the president. These ICE raids, they are cruel, they are inhumane, [and] they do nothing to deliver that public safety,” Mamdani said. “In fact, what they do is leave a sense of fear among so many.”
When asked about Trump’s threats to cut funding to sanctuary cities such as New York, Mamdani said he would fight for New Yorkers.
“What I said is that our values and our laws, they are not bargaining chips. I’m not looking to have a negotiation with New Yorkers’ lives,” he said.
Mamdani noted that sanctuary city laws have been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike and “keep New Yorkers safe.”
“I’ve told the president this directly, which is that what we are talking about is not people who have been convicted of serious crimes. We’re talking about people whose crimes are simply being in New York City,” he said. “And if they were to make good on this threat, it would rip the civic fabric of this city apart.”
(WASHINGTON) — With almost a year as vice president — and one year until the midterm elections, JD Vance’s supporters say he is settling into his role in the Trump administration, being used as the president’s “fixer” and “enforcer,” a source familiar with their relationship told ABC News.
“Vance really has been an enforcer and fixer for the president and his administration, and he’s been able to do it on a wide variety of topics,” the source, someone familiar with the relationship between Vance and Trump, said. “Unlike past vice presidents who demanded a specific policy portfolio, Vance never did that, which allows the president to put JD in the game whenever he sees a need for him to be put in the game.”
This has allowed Trump to dispatch Vance to advance his agenda, the source said.
“I think that dynamic has benefited the president, the vice president and the entire administration,” the source added, saying trust between the two — and others in the administration with whom Vance has forged relationships for years — has led to Vance’s role.
Vance’s role in the Trump White House has sharpened as the 2026 midterm elections approach and his name has been floated as a possible 2028 presidential candidate — even by Trump himself.
Proponents of Vance say his role as the “enforcer” and “fixer” was on display last summer as the White House worked to push Trump’s massive tax and spending bill through Congress.
In the days leading up to the bill’s passage, Vance — who served as a senator from Ohio before becoming vice president — held a series of meetings with conservative and moderate holdouts and with Senate leadership to help move the bill forward.
“He was a big part of getting it across the finish line and then promoting it afterwards,” a former White House official told ABC News about Trump’s megabill.
When asked by ABC News how they view Vance’s role in the administration, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement that Vance is Trump’s “trusted partner” who has helped deliver on Trump’s agenda.
“Vice President Vance is a trusted partner to President Trump and has played a critical role in helping the President keep all of the promises he made to the American people including delivering the largest tax cut in history for middle and working class Americans, securing the border, and putting American workers first,” Huston said.
Vance also took the lead in facilitating the TikTok framework that would transfer majority ownership of the app to Americans, but the deal has not been fully solidified. Vance was heavily involved in developing a strategy to reach the TikTok framework leading up to the U.S.-China summit in Madrid, where officials discussed the matter and joined Trump in the Oval Office when he signed the executive order on the framework.
A critical moment for Vance during this past year was his angry exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office where he chastised the world leader for not being thankful for the support the U.S. has provided to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“Mr. President, with respect, I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said to Zelenskyy in February. “Right now, you guys are going around enforcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”
The eyebrow-raising exchange underscored Vance’s willingness to publicly defend Trump and the lengths he would go to do so. But Trump appeared to shut down Vance in the meeting: “But you see, I think it’s good for the American people to see what’s going on. I think it’s very important,” Trump said.
Vance and Trump have not always been aligned. In March of this past year, Vance showed a rare instance of appearing to break with Trump in a Signal group chat with other top US officials and questioned whether the president recognized that a unilateral U.S. attack on the Houthis to keep international shipping lanes open was at odds with his tough talk about European nations paying their share of such efforts.
Still, Vance’s skills as a communicator have been useful for the administration — especially during the ongoing government shutdown, the former White House officials said.
“I would say one thing there that sort of ties to where he’s been in general as a help in the administration, is that he’s a very good communicator, and like you saw when he took the podium at the beginning of the shutdown to talk about, you know, the White House’s position on it,” the official said.
Joel Goldstein, a vice-presidential scholar and former professor at Saint Louis University Law School, told ABC News that Vance follows the footprint of vice presidents as an administration spokesperson — but takes it even further.
“Vice presidents are generally spokespersons for the administration they serve, but Vice President Vance seems unusually active in this regard, including on social media, and more confrontational than most recent vice presidents in some of his rhetoric against political opponents and the discourse he uses or doesn’t rebuke,” Goldstein said. “He has also performed in visible diplomatic roles as have his predecessors, but has often been more confrontational towards traditional allies as he was at the Munich Security Summit and in the Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy.”
Republican political operatives said Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference was a breakout moment as vice president.
In February, Vance delivered a stinging message to European allies, saying that the biggest threat to Europe did not come from Russia or China, but from within Europe itself, and that he was concerned Europe was moving toward censorship and away from democracy.
Vance added another title under his portfolio when he became the Republican National Committee finance chair, a key fundraising role in the organization and the first time a sitting vice president has held the position.
In a statement to ABC News, RNC press secretary Kiersten Pels said that Vance will be critical for the national party heading into next year’s midterms — calling Vance a “fundraising powerhouse for the RNC.”
Vance has also been involved in trying to maintain Republicans’ slim majority in the House ahead of next year’s midterm elections. In August, Vance traveled to Indiana, where he made the pitch to Republican lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map.
With a year until the midterm election, a source close to the vice president said Vance will be involved.
“I think you can probably expect, as we get closer to midterms, for the vice president to be a regular presence on the campaign trail for Trump-endorsed candidates across the country,” the source said.
Next year’s election will also be critical for Vance as he’s viewed as a possible 2028 candidate and someone who could take on the mantle of leading the MAGA movement once Trump leaves office.
In a recent interview with Pod Force One, Vance shared that during a private lunch at the White House six months ago, Trump floated the idea of him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the Republican ticket in 2028.
“It feels so premature, because we’re still so early. And what I always say to people is, if we take care of business, the politics will take care of itself,” Vance said to podcast host Miranda Devine.
Trump himself recently said Vance and Rubio would be “great” options as 2028 presidential candidates.
“I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two,” Trump said on Oct. 27 of Vance and Rubio. “I think if they ever formed a group it would be unstoppable.”
(WASHINGTON) — The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the privately funded nonprofit designated by Congress to protect historic sites, is suing in an attempt to stop the construction of the White House ballroom.
In a complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for DC, the organization is asking for the project to be stopped until it completes the federal review process standard for federal building projects and seeks public comment on the proposed changes.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever—not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the complaint said. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”
“President Trump’s efforts to do so should be immediately halted, and work on the Ballroom Project should be paused until the Defendants complete the required reviews—reviews that should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom—and secure the necessary approvals,” the complaint continued.
In its complaint, the Trust argues that the project has not been filed with the National Capital Planning Commission as required by law; that it began without an environmental assessment or impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act; and that the construction was not authorized by Congress.
The White House has continued to defend the construction of the ballroom.
“President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House — just like all of his predecessors did,” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson, said on Friday.
The White House has previously attacked the Trust, saying it is run by “a bunch of loser Democrats and liberal donors who are playing political games.”
It has also argued that the nature of the project on the White House grounds does not require congressional approval, an assertion the Trust is challenging in its lawsuit.
News of the lawsuit was first reported by the Washington Post.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — The Republican candidate has a familiar closing message in the Virginia gubernatorial race.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ campaign spent millions of dollars on ads attacking Democratic nominee and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger for her stance on transgender rights in Virginia schools.
One ad claims Spanberger supports “men in girls’ locker rooms,” and closes with the notion that “Abigail Spanberger is for they/them, not us” — a direct echo of an ad the Trump campaign used against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The 2025 Virginia gubernatorial election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The incumbent Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, assumed office in 2022 and is ineligible to run for re-election.
The debate over trans rights also played a role in Youngkin’s 2021 campaign. Youngkin has rolled back accommodations for trans students and increased parental notification requirements during his time in office.
Nicole Neily, president and founder of the nonprofit Defending Education, said that the focus on this issue in Virginia began with Youngkin’s race, which he won by championing parental rights in Virginia schools.
Virginia GOP governor candidate called Trump a ‘liability’ ahead of 2024 “This is an issue that has been on the radar of parents across Virginia,” Neily told ABC News. However, she added that in this particular race, she “can’t see this flipping the election by any stretch.”
Throughout the race, Earle-Sears has continued the Youngkin administration’s focus on the issue, she told ABC News in a statement.
“We see it’s about $30 million worth of attack ads against me related to trans youth,” the Democrat told Katie Couric in an interview last week. “There’s a real effort to engage in some level of fearmongering.”
Spanberger’s campaign did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
“I do find it really objectionable that there would be kids who turn on the television and as in an effort to attack me, see images of themselves sort of reflected as a villain,” Spanberger added. “I really do believe that a lot of these choices, whether it’s sports participation or bathroom usage, needs to be made at the very local level with parents and teachers and administrators and not necessarily dictated — certainly not by the federal government — or the state government.”
In a recent ad her campaign released that appeared to be in response to the Earle-Sears team’s ones, Spanberger spoke to this directly.
“I believe we need to get politics out of our schools and trust parents and local communities,” she said.
Spanberger has maintained her lead against Earle-Sears, as Virginians cite issues like inflation and threats to democracy as some of their biggest concerns in the election, according to a recent poll from Christopher Newport University.
Furthermore, Virginia is home to over 300,000 federal workers, who have likely been affected by the actions taken by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and the current government shutdown.
Virginia-based Republican strategist Tucker Martin believes that beyond Earle-Sears’ closing strategy, the current political environment in Virginia meant that her campaign for governor was “uphill from the start.”
“Any Republican who is going to be the Republican nominee for governor in this cycle — with Trump back in the White House in a state that he’s lost three straight times by significant margins — was going to be in big trouble,” Martin told ABC News.
Could the federal layoffs impact the Virginia governor race? Martin doesn’t think Earle-Sears’ focus on trans rights has resonated “at all” among voters.
“Transgender issues just aren’t top of mind for Virginians right now,” he said.
“What works well in Florida or Wisconsin may not work well in Virginia or New Jersey,” Martin added, invoking another hotly contested gubernatorial race this year. However, Martin said that it could prove to be a “powerful issue” in “competitive congressional races.”
With the 2026 midterms fast-approaching, and Republicans seeking to maintain their control of both chambers of Congress and Democrats hoping to flip some seats, the political salience of culture war debates like this one is something that both parties will be paying attention to.
“Republicans have given in to the most extreme fringes of their party by abandoning pocketbook issues in favor of an anti-freedom agenda that is obsessed with letting politicians make decisions that should be left to parents and doctors,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton told ABC News in a statement.
“Rather than getting involved in personal matters, House Republicans should perhaps spend their time expanding the middle class, lowering costs, and protecting freedoms,” Shelton’s statement continued. “That’s certainly what House Democrats are focused on — and it’s why we’ll win in 2026.”
Spanberger has been able to avoid addressing the debate head-on in this race, often pointing to her experience investigating child predators as a federal law enforcement officer and her belief that such decisions should be left up to local communities.
According to Martin, this question is something that Democrats like Spanberger will need to shore up their stances on in upcoming elections in other states or districts.
“I wouldn’t say the Spanberger campaign has handled it well, but what they have going for them is it’s just not an issue in Virginia that voters are particularly concerned about,” Martin said.
