New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s team quietly asked the White House to free about two dozen New Yorkers held by immigration agents, a report says, and the mayor’s aides fear new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller will close that door.
Story Snapshot
- Mamdani’s staff gave President Trump’s team the names of about two dozen people in ICE custody and asked the president to order their release, according to the report.
- The mayor’s aides worked mostly through Susie Wiles, who was then White House chief of staff.
- Trump replaced Wiles with Stephen Miller, the architect of his mass-deportation plans, on Friday, November 6.
- Mamdani’s spokeswoman said he “is always advocating directly on behalf of New Yorkers” with the president. The White House did not respond.
Mamdani has quietly asked Trump to release dozens of detained immigrants https://t.co/wdgMigfw4u
— POLITICO (@politico) November 9, 2026
Private Release Requests Reached the White House
A news report published Monday, November 9, says Mamdani and his staff handed the White House a list of about two dozen immigrant New Yorkers held by ICE, which is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that arrests and holds people on immigration charges. The goal was to get President Trump to order them set free. The account came from two people familiar with the effort, who said the people on the list do not have serious criminal records. They would not name them.
According to the report, the mayor kept these requests out of public view because he believes quiet appeals have a better chance of working. Mamdani’s aides, including his chief of staff, Elle Bisgaard-Church, dealt mostly with Wiles. The most recent names were handed over in September, when Trump met Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official home.
How the Channel Started
The effort began with a win. On Thursday, February 26, Mamdani met Trump at the White House. That same day, federal agents had detained Elmina Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan. Mamdani raised her case, and Trump told him she would be released. Homeland Security later freed her while it went ahead with steps to remove her from the country.
The report says that result encouraged the mayor’s team to keep sending names. The report did not confirm that anyone else on the list has been freed. It did say Mamdani used his ties to Trump in October to get a short-term visa for a woman from Ghana whose son was shot and killed in the Bronx. In a television interview, Mamdani said he has “a productive relationship” with Trump and that “we have been able to free a New Yorker from ICE detention.”
Why Miller Worries City Hall
Trump named Stephen Miller his new chief of staff on Friday, November 6. Miller had been the president’s deputy chief of staff for policy and his top homeland security adviser. He is known as the driving force behind the administration’s toughest immigration plans and its push for mass deportations. “He gets it,” Trump told reporters.
A person familiar with the mayor’s thinking said it is unlikely that Miller, given his stance on immigration, will keep cooperating the way Wiles did. The report does not point to any order from Miller turning down a specific request. What it describes is worry inside City Hall that the private channel is closing.
What Each Side Has Said
Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec would not discuss the staff’s concerns about Miller or share details about the people on the list. She said Mamdani “is always advocating directly on behalf of New Yorkers in his conversations and meetings with the president.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, November 9.
Murad Awawdeh, a close Mamdani ally who leads the New York Immigration Coalition, an advocacy group, urged the mayor’s team to keep talking to the administration. “Stephen Miller is a cruel man who has spent his career targeting immigrants, but he is not the president,” he said. “Donald Trump is, and the deportation agenda is his.”
Why This Matters
Mamdani has fought ICE in public, signing orders to limit where agents can go in city property. At the same time, the report says, his team worked behind closed doors to get specific people released by going straight to the president. Supporters of tough enforcement say immigration cases should move through the courts and the normal legal process, the same way for everyone, not through private requests from a big-city mayor.
With Miller running the White House staff, the mayor’s team expects fewer favors. If that private path closes, any New Yorker held by ICE will have to make his case the same way everyone else does, through the immigration courts.
Sources:
politico.com, politico.com, redstate.com