New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has released a detailed “know your rights” video explicitly instructing residents, particularly immigrants, on how to legally resist and document encounters with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as President Trump intensifies nationwide deportation operations.

The video, posted Sunday, arrives days after federal agents conducted a high-profile raid in Manhattan’s Chinatown that drew angry crowds and renewed fears across immigrant neighbourhoods. Mamdani calmly explains constitutional protections: ICE cannot enter homes, schools, or private workplaces without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, agents are legally permitted to deceive people, individuals have the absolute right to remain silent, and filming officers in public is fully protected as long as it does not physically interfere.

Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on 1 January, declared that his administration will stand as an unbreakable shield for the city’s immigrant population. “New York will always welcome immigrants, and I will fight each and every day to protect, support, and celebrate our immigrant brothers and sisters,” he stated, directly countering the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement surge that has already swept through cities like New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Also Read: NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani Calls Trump a Fascist Despite White House Meeting

Despite a widely publicised cordial meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office last month, Mamdani has made it clear that no federal pressure will erode New York’s long-standing sanctuary policies. He stressed that city agencies will continue cooperating with ICE only in cases involving approximately 170 serious violent crimes, refusing to hand over immigrants detained for minor offences or simply for attending routine court appearances.

With deportation fears gripping communities and federal raids escalating, Mamdani’s bold public tutorial has electrified immigrant rights groups while provoking fury from Trump supporters, cementing New York City’s position as the epicentre of resistance against the administration’s mass-deportation campaign.

Also Read: Mamdani Heads to Oval Office: Ready to Ally or Defy Trump