(VIDEO) Mamdani Shows How Clueless He is When Asked About Border and Immigration Policy but Can Only Attack ICE, Admits He’s Never Been to the Border
July 18, 2026
Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani humiliated himself in a Saturday interview with the far-left New York Times, showing how clueless he is about immigration and how unoriginal and empty his policy position is.
During an interview with the New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Mamdani was asked, perhaps for the first time, what he thinks America’s immigration policy should be.
While noting that Darializa Avila Chevalier, one of Mamdani’s endorsed candidates for US Congress in the midterms, “rejects all deportations even of violent criminals” and refers to Borders as a “philosophical concept,” Garcia-Navarro asked for his proposals now that he’s stepping into federal races.
“How do you view, for example, the issue of border security? What border policy should America have? You know, should immigrants be able to claim asylum at the US-Mexico border? Should they be able to enter the country while their claims are being reviewed?” she asked.
But Mamdani gave a word salad answer, pandering to illegal aliens and claiming ICE has “terrorized Americans across this country and others that live in this country.”
“When we talk about immigration, it’s often bandied about as just a political subject for debate,” he said before ironically spewing his radical left-wing political talking points about “legality, consistency, and humanity” and not giving any actual answer.
Garcia-Navarro actually pressed him, noting that the Democrats failed on the border and that he’s only been able to show opposition to deportations without any real policy proposals. “I would just like to understand what a humane border policy looks like for you,” she said as Mamdani began railing against ICE once again.
“But would you have asylum seekers be able to, you know, for example, ask for asylum at the US-Mexico border?” Garcia-Navarro asked, but Mamdani continued to assert that the Trump administration’s immigration policy runs contrary to the law and “international obligations.”
Meanwhile, Garcia-Navarro appeared to defend the Trump Administration, notifying Mamdani that under President Trump, aliens cannot apply for asylum at the US-Mexico border, and “that has meant that the border has seen a dramatic drop in illegal crossings.”
Mamdani went on to outline the only border policy he can understand: New York is a sanctuary city and will not comply with federal deportation operations.
Ultimately, Garcia-Navarro just asked, “Have you ever been to the US-Mexico border?” and moved on to the next topic after Mamdani replied, “No.”
WATCH:
Transcript:
Garcia-Navarro: One of the things that I really wanted to ask you about also was an understanding of your sort of broader vision for your coalition now that you’re getting involved in federal races, because Darializa Avila Chevalier has a particular view of immigration. She rejects all deportations even of violent criminals. She called borders a philosophical concept. How do you view, for example, the issue of border security? What border policy should America have? You know, should immigrants be able to claim asylum at the US Mexico border? Should they be able to enter the country while their claims are being reviewed?
Mamdani: I think some of what you’re describing is answered by the law. And I believe that we should follow the law when it comes to asylum cases. I also believe that we should have a border policy that both is secure and one that is also defined by some humanity. You know, when we talk about immigration, it’s often bandied about as just a political subject for debate. ICE is an agency that has terrorized Americans across this country and others that live in this country. Just the other day, a man, wasn’t even 30 years old, said goodbye to his wife and his child, and moments later was shot by ICE agents in Maine. And this was not even a month after a man was killed in Texas. And so when we’re talking about all of this, I often think about it through a prism of legality, consistency, and humanity, and an understanding that immigration policy doesn’t just affect those without status. It affects an entire city.
You know, I went to a Dominican barber shop in Harlem, and the owner was telling me that everyone in the barber shop had status. They all had status. And yet most of them were terrified to come to work because they know that for so much of ICE’s operations, it has little to do with legality. It has to do with profiling and it has to do with a vision of creating the largest deportation machine this country has ever seen and of a notion of this country where so many of us who call it home would have no place in it any longer.
Garcia-Navarro: I think the issue of deportations is one you’ve been pretty consistent on. I’m trying to understand what your idea of the border would be because obviously the people you endorsed in federal races will have an impact on any legislation to do with the border, and the Democratic party, you know, has struggled gaining support over its border policies, considering what happened under the Biden administration where you had, you know, the border as some would describe it being overrun, millions of people coming in in an unauthorized fashion, and that had impacts here in New York City. You know, a lot of the city was overstretched. Um, resources were overrun and it made people very unhappy. So, again, I would just like to understand what a humane border policy looks like for you.
Mamdani: I don’t believe that secure and humane are at odds. I don’t believe that the only way to provide immigration enforcement is through ICE. I think often times we are forced into these false choices.
Garcia-Navarro: But would you have asylum seekers be able to, you know, for example, ask for asylum at the US-Mexico border?
Mamdani: What is the law today? What are they legally entitled to do?
Garcia-Navarro: I mean the law today– I mean, under President Trump, the law today is that they’re not.
Mamdani: But in terms of international obligations in terms of preexisting–
Garcia-Navarro: And that has meant that the border has seen a dramatic drop in illegal crossings. So, I guess that is the tension that a lot of people see.
Mamdani: I think that what we’ve found from the Republican administration has been a desire to make any and all immigration illegal. And I sit before you as one of the first immigrant mayors of our city in generations. I lead a city where of 8 and a half million people, more than 3 million are immigrants. And so when we’re talking about legitimate claims to asylum, I think that those should be honored. When we’re talking about immigration enforcement, I think that it should be humane. I talk about our pride in being a sanctuary city in terms of the policies that we practice. I’ll give you an example of those policies. We are willing to work with the federal government on more than 170 serious crimes if someone has been convicted of them. What we are unwilling to do is to participate in civil immigration enforcement with a federal government that has said openly it wants to deport a vast majority of people for crimes that we will never even know. That is where I think I see the tension.
Garcia-Navarro: Have you ever been to the US Mexico border?
Mamdani: No.
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