At Mamdani’s interfaith breakfast, NY clergy condemn Trump’s immigration crackdown
NEW YORK (RNS) — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted his first interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library’s midtown location on Friday morning (Feb. 6). For this year’s breakfast, local clergy joined the mayor in condemning the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
During the event, Mamdani signed an executive order to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering city property without a judicial warrant.
“ICE is more than a rogue agency. It is a manifestation of the abuse of power,” Mamdani said before signing the document amid applause. “In fact, there is no reforming something so rotten and base.”
Executive Order 13 will also prevent the federal government from accessing New Yorkers’ private data and create an interagency response committee on immigration, the mayor said.
During the traditional breakfast, Mamdani, who began building ties with local faith leaders during his campaign, made clear that he hoped to work with them to implement his affordability agenda and support the city’s immigrant communities amid ICE operations in the city. Throughout the event, speakers drew on various spiritual teachings to urge clergy to defend immigrant communities across the five boroughs.
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During his 20-minute address, Mamdani referenced teachings from the Bible, the Torah and the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred Hindu text, on the need for the faithful to care for strangers. The mayor, citing Deuteronomy 10:17-18, which speaks of God caring for strangers, commended the nearly 200 faith leaders in attendance to do the same.
People attend an interfaith breakfast at the New York Public Library’s midtown location on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, hosted by mayor Zohran Mamdani. (RNS photo/Fiona André)
“We can rely on our faith to offer an embrace of one another,” he said.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, noted that his own tradition was founded on a story of immigration: the Prophet Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Medina.
“Let us offer a new path — one of defiance through compassion,” said Mamdani, after praising the example set by Minnesota protesters Alex Pretti and Renée Good, both killed by ICE agents deployed in the state.
After an opening musical performance by Qais Essar, Sonny Singh and Sukhmani, which drew on Sikh, Sufi and Afghan cultures, leaders took turns on stage, all denouncing the administration’s immigration policy as opposed to their faith teachings.
In her welcoming remarks, Aliya Latif, the newly appointed executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based Partnerships, said NY clergy ought to mobilize as forcefully as clergy who have protested ICE operations across the country.
“Faith leaders have responded to this crisis with the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They have prayed with their feet,” she said. “Our latest test will be how we care for the most vulnerable amongst us.”
Rabbi Emily Cohen, senior rabbi at West End Synagogue in Manhattan, also applauded faith leaders who have taken center stage in the protest movement against ICE operations.
“Religion is often characterized as a home for the right, but I’m continually inspired by the religious left … by ordinary people who wear their faith not as a suit of armor, guarding against the other, but as a big coat warming us against an icy world,” she said.
Dr. Sheikh Faiyaz Jaffer, the executive director of New York University’s Islamic Center, said that as the Quran teaches Muslims to honor all human beings, he encouraged faith leaders to advocate for a just treatment of immigrants across the country.
“We are not called to a sense of personal piety but to a sense of moral courage,” he said. “Faith leaders and faith communities must be the voices of conscience, standing with the vulnerable, defending human dignity and reminding society that every single one of us carries this intrinsic honor.”
Attendees included congressional candidate and former NYC comptroller Brad Lander, New York Muslim Democratic Club’s lead counsel, Ali Najmi, St. John the Divine’s dean the Rev. Winnie Varghese and Clarendon Road church’s the Rev. Charles Galbreath.
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, senior rabbi at Park Avenue Synagogue, also attended the event. During the mayoral campaign, Cosgrove said he believed Mamdani posed a “danger to the security of the New York Jewish community” because of his criticism of Israel.