A woman who worked in the Joe Biden administration has been selected by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to oversee an audit of six municipal agencies, including the New York Police Department, to determine if they uphold sanctuary laws, Politico reported.
The move is aimed at defending the city against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdowns and is part of an executive order Mamdani signed earlier this month designed to strengthen the city's sanctuary laws.
Mamdani tapped Bitta Mostofi, who served as a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for the audits as part of her new position as special adviser to the deputy mayor, two people told Politico.
"The directive is for folks to recommend to the mayor changes to policies and protocols, and that can be everything from the process, to accountability, to transparency, and so forth," Mostofi said.
Mostofi said the tenure of former Mayor Eric Adams made her want to examine city agencies, telling Politico he undermined sanctuary laws.
Under Adams, New York City's Department of Investigation found employees at the NYPD and Department of Corrections, another department Mostofi is auditing, violated sanctuary laws by sharing information with federal officials about immigrants.
Adams also sought to let Immigration and Customs Enforcement set up an office on Rikers Island, but it was blocked by the courts.
New York's sanctuary laws prohibit city employees from allowing ICE onto municipal property, like schools, unless they have a judicial warrant for their arrest.
Mostofi is also auditing the departments of probation, social services, and health, as well as the Administration for Children's Services, Politico reported, since they most likely interact with federal immigration authorities.
The Department of Homeland Security blasted Mamdani's executive order, saying it will make New Yorkers less safe.
"Mamdani will make New Yorkers less safe as a direct result of this policy," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
"There are currently 7,113 criminal illegal aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer," she said.
"Secretary [Kristi] Noem and ICE leadership are urgently calling on Mamdani to agree to release criminals in New York City's custody to ICE before they are released back onto the Big Apple's streets to victimize and prey on more Americans," McLaughlin added.
"When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities," she continued.
Once the audit reports are submitted, the mayor's office will then use the findings to enact new training protocols to strengthen sanctuary law compliance at each agency, Politico reported.
An official at one of the agencies being audited questioned what Mamdani's motivation was.
"This recent executive order only raises more questions as to what specific policy the administration is pursuing and what the expectations are for the employees responsible for enforcing it," the official told Politico.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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