New York City’s Sanctuary Law Audit Sparks DHS Alarm Over Public Safety

By Sam Barron | Monday, 16 February 2026 08:28 PM EST

A woman who worked in the Joe Biden administration has been selected by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to oversee an audit of six municipal agencies, including the New York Police Department, to determine if they uphold sanctuary laws.

The move is aimed at defending the city against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns and is part of an executive order Mamdani signed earlier this month designed to strengthen the city’s sanctuary laws.

Mamdani tapped Bitta Mostofi, who served as a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, for the audits as part of her new position as special adviser to the deputy mayor.

Mostofi stated that the directive is for people to recommend changes to policies and protocols, which could cover everything from processes to accountability and transparency.

She said that the tenure of former Mayor Eric Adams motivated her to examine city agencies because he undermined sanctuary laws.

Under Adams’ administration, New York City’s Department of Investigation found employees at the NYPD and Department of Corrections violated sanctuary laws by sharing information with federal officials about immigrants.

Adams also sought to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to set up an office on Rikers Island, but it was blocked by the courts.

New York’s sanctuary laws prohibit city employees from allowing ICE onto municipal property, such as schools, unless they have a judicial warrant for arrest.

Mostofi is auditing the departments of probation, social services, health, and the Administration for Children’s Services because these agencies most likely interact with federal immigration authorities.

The Department of Homeland Security criticized Mamdani’s executive order, stating it will make New Yorkers less safe.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: “Mamdani will make New Yorkers less safe as a direct result of this policy. There are currently 7,113 criminal illegal aliens in the custody of a New York jurisdiction with an active detainer.”

McLaughlin added that “Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE leadership are urgently calling on Mamdani to agree to release criminals in New York City’s custody to ICE before they are released back onto the Big Apple’s streets to victimize and prey on more Americans.” She continued, “When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities.”

Once the audit reports are submitted, the mayor’s office will use the findings to enact new training protocols to strengthen sanctuary law compliance at each agency.

An official at one of the agencies being audited questioned Mamdani’s motivation: “This recent executive order only raises more questions as to what specific policy the administration is pursuing and what the expectations are for the employees responsible for enforcing it.”

Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.