A newly surfaced video from a March 13 protest at the New York State Capitol captures an all-too-telling moment in the city’s long slide from governance to grievance politics: mayoral hopeful **Zohran Mamdani**, a self-described socialist, screaming questions at **Tom Homan**, President Trump’s border czar, while a mob of activists tries to shut down a lawful discussion about immigration enforcement.
The footage — which has been making the rounds online — shows protesters breaching the Capitol as Homan urged lawmakers to stop sheltering criminal illegal aliens and to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Amid chants of “No hate, no fear — immigrants are welcome here,” Mamdani bellows, “How many more New Yorkers will you detain? How many more New Yorkers without charge? Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan?”
The line is theater, not policy. Homan, a career ICE official who’s spent decades on the front lines of immigration enforcement, calmly cut through the histrionics and delivered the blunt message Americans want to hear: **the law matters**. “This is an attack on immigration enforcement — that’s plain what it is,” Homan told the assembly. “You’re not going to stop us. New York State, you’ve got to change the sanctuary status. If you don’t, get out of the way, we’re going to do our job.”
That insistence on enforcing federal law is exactly what’s missing in large Democratic-run cities. Sanctuary policies have become a license for noncompliance, turning municipal governments into safe harbors for people who ignore federal immigration rules — and too often for criminals who exploit those policies. The result is predictable: more resources consumed by enforcement, more danger to neighborhood safety, and more frustration from citizens who want basic public order.
The March rally made those consequences plain. Video shows state police forming a perimeter around Homan and Trump administration officials while protesters hurled slogans and displayed pro-amnesty placards in both English and Spanish. Accounts afterwards accused Homan of scaremongering; he replied by reminding the crowd that ICE doesn’t conduct operations in hospitals, schools or churches and that the agency follows clear legal standards. “He needs to do his homework when it comes to ICE operations,” Homan said in a follow-up.
Homan’s larger point — that illegal entry is a crime and harboring illegal aliens violates federal law — is neither radical nor cruel. It’s the rule of law. When local governments prioritize ideology over enforcement, federal agents are forced into harder, riskier operations in neighborhoods rather than working through cooperative local partners. Homan warned precisely what would follow: “If [Mamdani] wants a sanctuary city, he won’t let us in Rikers Island, then we’ve got to go into the neighborhood and find ’em,” he said. “When we find that bad guy, if he’s with others who are in the country illegally, they’re coming too.”
Mamdani’s theatrics are useful as campaign optics — they rally a vocal base and get attention — but they don’t solve the real problems families in New York face: rising crime, overstretched emergency services, and the erosion of local control. Voters who care about safe streets and accountable government should ask the simpler question Homan posed: do you want laws enforced, or do you want politics to trump public safety?
If New York is serious about protecting its citizens, the answer should be obvious. End the sanctuary charade. Work with federal authorities. And stop letting theatrical populists substitute outrage for solutions.
