Donald Trump’s grand return to New York City for a historic NBA Finals game has been overshadowed by White House plans to unleash an unprecedented surge of ICE agents on the city.
The President’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced Monday that ‘you’re going to see more ICE than you’ve ever seen in New York City.’
‘It’s coming,’ Homan told Fox News. ‘I just reviewed an operational plan. I’m not going to tell you exactly when it’s going to happen, but it’s coming.’
Homan said he warned New York Governor Kathy Hochul of the upcoming crackdown shortly before she signed a bill last month banning ICE agents from wearing masks in the state.
The legislation also bars local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE and allows New Yorkers to sue federal officials they claimed have violated their immigration operations.
Trump’s top immigration officials argue that agents should arrest migrants already held in local jails, rather than pursue them across communities as in the controversial crackdowns in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.
The looming ICE surge comes as Trump prepares to make a rare visit to his hometown on Monday night to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio at Madison Square Garden.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also attending but said he would ‘be in a very different section of the stadium’ to Trump.
Trump has drawn up plans to send an unprecedented number of ICE agents into New York for the largest immigration crackdown in the city’s history
Massive protests have gathered for weeks outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey
Trump and Homan have previously threatened to surge immigration agents into the Big Apple but never followed through
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also attending but said he would ‘be in a very different section of the stadium’ to Trump
Trump attendance at the New York game has sparked fury from fans as Madison Square Garden goes into lockdown ahead of the President’s arrival.
Fans slammed the ‘ridiculous’ wall of steel forming around the stadium in midtown Manhattan, branding Trump ‘selfish’ for descending on the city.
The President, a New York native, is expected to be seated in an executive suite as security takes precedence with the NYPD and Secret Service out in full force.
The exact date for when the administration plans to flood the city with ICE agents remains unclear. The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump’s appearance comes just two months after he was targeted by a gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and just three weeks after a shooting at the White House.
Trump and Homan have previously threatened to surge immigration agents into the Big Apple but never followed through. The White House faced intense backlash earlier this year over its urban crackdowns.
Homan was responsible for negotiating the end of the Homeland Security Minneapolis crackdown earlier this year, following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Massive protests, moreover, have gathered for weeks outside an immigration detention center not too far from NYC in New Jersey.
The President’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced Monday that ‘you’re going to see more ICE than you’ve ever seen in New York City’
Hundreds of anti-ICE demonstrators have maintained a presence outside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed ICE detention center in Newark.
Protesters have often battled with law enforcement and agents with tear gas, pepper spray, and brawls.
Footage of dozens of protesters being arrested has circulated online as the facility becomes the latest flashpoint for opposition to Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The Trump administration also announced on Monday it was attempting to revoke the citizenship of 17 US citizens the White House has accused of immigration fraud, according to CBS News.
Trump’s mass deportation agenda was one of the central promises of his 2024 campaign.
