New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani described newly disclosed reports that the FBI and NYPD monitored a private group chat used by volunteers observing the city’s immigration courts as “deeply troubling” on Monday, and vowed that his incoming administration would conduct a review.
The Guardian last week initially reported that the FBI monitored immigrant-rights activists by accessing a “courtwatch” Signal 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 Signal and characterized the court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors.”
The CITY was first to confirm that the NYPD had been involved in the operation. Despite Signal being end-to-end encrypted, the FBI stated that it obtained the messages through a “sensitive source with excellent access,” implying that someone within the chat was sharing information.
In a statement to amNewYork, an NYPD spokesperson on Monday distanced itself from the joint report, saying it is not an NYPD document. The department said it relates to a broader counterterrorism investigation into a range of potential criminal activities, including weapons training, violence against law enforcement, property damage, and discussions about bomb-making.
The NYPD added that the report has been reviewed by an external civilian representative under a standing court order that created 10-member NYPD Handschu Committee in the wake of federal lawsuits alleged the department improperly investigated the Muslim community.
The committee, which includes nine NYPD officials and a civilian representative, oversees the opening, extension, and closure of investigations into political activity, including terrorism.
The civilian representative, currently attorney Muhammad Faridi, serves a five-year term and can report potential abuses to the NYPD commissioner and the federal judge overseeing the Handschu case.
Faridi, appointed by Mayor Adams in 2023, told The City Friday that he had reviewed NYPD records, saying it referred to one surveillance subject and concluded that the inquiry meets Handschu Committee guidelines.
When asked about the NYPD’s involvement while speaking at Monday’s announcement in Central Park for his transition team, Mamdani said it was “deeply troubling” and “that’s something that we’re going to look into.”
Speaking on the important role court observers have played in the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, Mamdani recalled a conversation he had a with a Brooklyn pastor on the campaign trail who spoke of an immigrant they had accompanied to a hearing “and part of the reason that she was able to go home that day is because of the court watchers who were there.”
He told reporters that the NYPD having any involvement in spying on court watchers is not something that will be part of his administration and “something that we follow up on.”
For months, amNewYork has been reporting on volunteer court observers who accompany immigrants to their required ICE check-in appointments on the fifth floor of 26 Federal Plaza, where they monitor and document what they believe are increasing detainments.
They say ICE is increasingly arresting individuals there, sometimes before they even reach their scheduled appointments, and have lately stressed that these moments happen out of sight of journalists and lawyers.
Responding to further questions about federal immigration enforcement, Mamdani said New York’s sanctuary laws already allow cooperation with federal authorities for a narrow list of serious crimes, but he criticized ICE for focusing enforcement on children and immigrants whose only offense is being present in the city.
“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,” said 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 commitment to public safety is to keep all New Yorkers safe, and “that’s where we have a difference of opinion.”
