A few days after Zohran Mamdani’s won New York City’s mayoral election, an Illinois Department of Transportation worker found himself being stopped and questioned by ICE agents, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The agents allegedly asked him about his immigration status and even about the new NYC mayor. The worker, who is Indian and a US citizen, was later released. Gov. JB Pritzker has since raised concerns, calling out DHS and its ‘identity-based targeting.’
Ever since Trump returned to the Oval Office this year, the DHS, led by Kristi Noem, has been carrying out aggressive ICE raids across the US, deporting, arresting, and questioning immigrants as part of Trump’s push to tighten rules on foreign nationals, which he claims will restore law and order.
Illinois worker stopped by ICE, asked about NYC mayor-elect Mamdani
Calling out the incident, Gov. JB Pritzker said this was yet another example of President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “questioning US citizens based on the colour of their skin.”
“I am appalled they would stop and question a state employee working hard on the job to help improve our state’s roads and infrastructure,” Pritzker said in a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Our state employees should be able to go to work and do their jobs without masked agents targeting them for no legitimate reason.”
According to the governor’s office, three masked ICE agents questioned the man on the Busse Highway resurfacing project. They asked if he had travelled to New York, whether he was “aware” of the mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and interrogated him about his immigration status.
Other immigration raids in Chicago this week
Federal judges had set limits on conditions at the Broadview detention centre and on DHS’s use-of-force policies. However, according to the Chicago Sun Times, on Thursday, Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino led a caravan across Chicago’s Southwest Side. They made several stops to question residents about their immigration status.
A day earlier, ICE agents entered a North Centre day care without a warrant. They arrested a teacher and searched every room.
Mamdani’s stand on ICE
After winning the primary, he said he would stop ICE from carrying out raids in New York City. “It’s where the mayor will reject Donald Trump’s fascism,” he said on June 24. “To stop ICE from deporting our neighbours and run this city as a model of what the Democratic Party should be.”
During his campaign, Mamdani said Trump’s agents wouldn’t get a free hand in New York. “If you want to pursue your promise to create the single largest deportation force in American history, or your promise to persecute and punish your political enemies, then you will have to get through me to do that here in New York City,” Mamdani told former Today anchor Katie Couric.
Zohran Mamdani, 34, is now set to become the Mayor of New York City. He is Indian-origin American, Muslim, and one of the youngest members of the rising Indian-American political community in the United States.