New York Metropolis mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani described newly disclosed stories that the FBI and NYPD monitored a non-public group chat utilized by volunteers observing town’s immigration courts as “deeply troubling” on Monday, and vowed that his incoming administration would conduct a evaluation.
The Guardian final week initially reported that the FBI monitored immigrant-rights activists by accessing a “courtwatch” Sign group, which organizes volunteers who observe public hearings at three federal immigration courts in NYC. A two-page “joint situational information report” from the FBI and the NYPD dated from Aug. 28, which The Guardian obtained, had quoted from the encrypted messaging app Sign and characterised the courtroom watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors.”
The CITY was first to substantiate that the NYPD had been concerned within the operation. Regardless of Sign being end-to-end encrypted, the FBI said that it obtained the messages via a “sensitive source with excellent access,” implying that somebody throughout the chat was sharing info.
In a press release to New York News, an NYPD spokesperson on Monday distanced itself from the joint report, saying it isn’t an NYPD doc. The division stated it pertains to a broader counterterrorism investigation into a variety of potential felony actions, together with weapons coaching, violence towards legislation enforcement, property harm, and discussions about bomb-making.
The NYPD added that the report has been reviewed by an exterior civilian consultant underneath a standing courtroom order that created 10-member NYPD Handschu Committee within the wake of federal lawsuits alleged the division improperly investigated the Muslim neighborhood.
The committee, which incorporates 9 NYPD officers and a civilian consultant, oversees the opening, extension, and closure of investigations into political exercise, together with terrorism.
The civilian consultant, at present legal professional Muhammad Faridi, serves a five-year time period and might report potential abuses to the NYPD commissioner and the federal choose overseeing the Handschu case.
Faridi, appointed by Mayor Adams in 2023, instructed The Metropolis Friday that he had reviewed NYPD data, saying it referred to 1 surveillance topic and concluded that the inquiry meets Handschu Committee pointers.
Comptroller Brad Lander at 26 Federal Plaza on Oct. 24, 2025, to bear witness to immigration instances as ICE brokers wait within the hallways.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
When requested in regards to the NYPD’s involvement whereas talking at Monday’s announcement in Central Park for his transition staff, Mamdani stated it was “deeply troubling” and “that’s something that we’re going to look into.”
Talking on the essential position courtroom observers have performed within the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, Mamdani recalled a dialog he had a with a Brooklyn pastor on the marketing campaign path who spoke of an immigrant that they had accompanied to a listening to “and part of the reason that she was able to go home that day is because of the court watchers who were there.”
He instructed reporters that the NYPD having any involvement in spying on courtroom watchers is just not one thing that can be a part of his administration and “something that we follow up on.”
For months, New York News has been reporting on volunteer courtroom observers who accompany immigrants to their required ICE check-in appointments on the fifth flooring of 26 Federal Plaza, the place they monitor and doc what they imagine are rising detainments.
They are saying ICE is more and more arresting people there, typically earlier than they even attain their scheduled appointments, and have currently burdened that these moments occur out of sight of journalists and legal professionals.
Responding to additional questions on federal immigration enforcement, Mamdani stated New York’s sanctuary legal guidelines already enable cooperation with federal authorities for a slim listing of significant crimes, however he criticized ICE for focusing enforcement on kids and immigrants whose solely offense is being current within the metropolis.
“What I said to the president is that New York City sanctuary laws have a provision within them that allows the city to work with the federal government for a specific set of serious crimes, and that has been the law for decades here in New York City,” stated Mamdani. “What’s giving so many New Yorkers, including myself, a deep amount of concern is that the focus of ICE’s immigration efforts has not been on those serious crimes. They have, in fact, been on children as young as six years old, being detained and deported. They have been on New Yorkers whose crime seems to just be being here in New York City.”
The mayor-elect added that his dedication to public security is to maintain all New Yorkers protected, and “that’s where we have a difference of opinion.”
