Among the Democratic candidates running in this month’s primary for mayor, three are children of immigrants and one is an immigrant himself.
New York is both the largest city in the country, and among those with the longest immigration history.
In 2024, immigrants made up almost 40 percent of the city’s population, according to the most recent report from the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), which has been reporting on the city’s immigrant population since 2017.
Among the Democratic candidates running in this month’s primary for mayor, three are children of immigrants and one is an immigrant himself.
The vast majority of immigrant New Yorkers are either U.S. citizens, or have a green card or visa. Only around 13 percent were undocumented in 2023, according to MOIA.
President Donald Trump has promised to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Since his team took charge in January, both New York City and state have seen more arrests, including on the streets and in immigration courts in recent weeks. The ramped up enforcement has spurred public protests.
As the election draws closer, with early voting starting on June 14, the candidates running for mayor have been asked repeatedly about how they would deal with Trump’s immigration actions in the city. Yet there is little information on their campaign websites regarding plans for immigrant New Yorkers.
City Limits asked the major Democratic candidates competing in this month’s primary about their plans on key related issues. Comptroller Brad Lander, State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, State Senator Zellnor Myrie and former Comptroller Scott Stringer responded.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Michael Blake, Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, State Senator Jessica Ramos and philanthropist Whitney Tilson did not respond to City Limits’ questions by press time.
In Thursday night’s televised debate, the candidates who qualified to participate—Adams, Cuomo, Lander, Mamdani, Myrie, Stringer and Tilson—were asked how they would potentially handle local immigration raids by the Trump administration.
All declared their commitment to protecting the city’s immigrants and defending New York’s sanctuary city laws (you can watch their responses by hitting play on the video below). However, Cuomo once referred to immigrants cleaning subway cars during the pandemic as “illegal immigrants,” which drew condemnation from Lander.
(A number of the candidates also took part in an immigrant-focused candidate forum in April, hosted by the New York Immigration Coalition, which you can watch in full here).
Read on for more details on what the candidates shared with City Limits about their plans for immigrant communities.
United against Trump & protecting immigrant New Yorkers
All of the candidates who responded to our questions about their plans vowed to protect immigrant New Yorkers, including undocumented residents. Almost everyone agreed on another point: standing up to Trump on ICE enforcement.
New Yorkers are closely following the clashes in Los Angeles and monitoring the actions by the president, who sent in National Guard troops and the Marines to crack down on people protesting (against the wishes of California’s governor). Similar protests have followed in New York City, and dozens have been arrested.
Several candidates—Mamdani, Lander, Stringer, and Myrie—say they would strengthen New York’s sanctuary city laws, though did not expand on how they would do it.
Mamdani also proposes investing $165 million in immigration legal defense services and court accompaniments, while Comptroller Lander recommends increasing immigration legal services by $170 million.
Additionally, Lander would launch a “Citywide Civil Liberties Watch” to monitor federal overreach and restore the de Blasio-era program ActionNYC, which provided immigration legal services directly in schools, libraries, and hospitals.
Migrants in temporary shelter
Around 38,000 migrants and asylum seekers were in the city shelter system in May, officials said.
When asked, Mamdani and Stringer were the only candidates who said they would end 30- and 60-day shelter limits for migrants in the system, a policy Eric Adams instituted in 2023 for adults and the start of last year for families with children. In addition, both candidates said they would create pathways for affordable housing for migrants. Mamdani added that students in shelters would be placed in facilities close to their schools.
Lander said he would focus on offering legal services, case management, English as a Second Language classes, workforce development, and job placement assistance to help asylum seekers apply for work authorization and move out of shelter.
In 2023, after asking the federal government to speed up the process for approving work permits for asylum seekers, state lawmakers in New York considered whether to issue state-wide work permits to migrants. Months later, Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state was legally barred from doing so.
Myrie is reshaping the idea by proposing a program to issue locally valid work permits for migrants while their asylum claims are being processed, called “WorkNYC.” His campaign said he also plans to help migrants transition from shelters into permanent housing through his “Rebuild NYC housing agenda,” which would aim to construct an ambitious 1 million new homes over the next decade.
Stringer said that his housing plan, dubbed Mitchell-Lama 2.0, would provide affordable rental and cooperative housing to low and middle-income families, regardless of their immigration status.
The new majority: older adults
According to the state comptroller, “from 2000 to 2023, the 65 and older population grew by 53 percent, 17 times faster than the total population.”
Since 2023, more than half (50.7 percent) of the city’s residents aged 65 and older were immigrants, something the mayoral candidates are well aware of. This was the topic the candidates had the most detailed ideas and plans on; City Limits has condensed their proposals.
Lander wants to revitalize the city-wide effort to build a more inclusive and accessible city for older adults through the “Age-Friendly New York City” initiative, with a focus on reaching immigrant New Yorkers. He would establish Neighborhood Resilience Hubs to provide safe, accessible shelter during emergencies, particularly for older adults.
Among Lander’s other ideas: launching a program called “FutureWorks NYC” to help older adults find “meaningful work”; embedding accessibility when redesigning streets, parks, and the transit system; expanding Access-A-Ride and the accessible bus fleet; and installing more elevators citywide.
In terms of housing for seniors, Lander wowed to track senior housing production; launch and monitor HomeShare NYC, a new initiative to connect renters looking for affordable units to homeowners with extra rooms, including for seniors; and ensure new affordable housing includes senior units. He said he would champion the passage of the coop discrimination bill to avoid age-based discrimination in the homeownership market.
Myrie and Lander both say they would invest in public education around the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE), a New York City program that helps eligible senior citizens stay in affordable housing by freezing their rent. Lander would also invest in educating people about the Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE), which freezes the rent of eligible disabled tenants. Both programs are underutilized compared to the number of New Yorkers potentially eligible for the benefits.
Myrie and Stringer would increase funding for Older Adult Centers and expand access to mental health services. Stringer and Mamdani would add more language access services for senior citizens when interacting with city agencies, their campaigns said.
Mamdani’s approach involved expanding Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs), areas with growing populations of older adults whose dwellings were not designed initially for those needs. His housing plan includes expanding the Department of Housing Preservation & Development’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA), which offers incentives for the construction and renovation of housing for low-income seniors 62 and older.
Early voting for the primary starts Saturday, June 14. Primary Day is June 24. You can look up your local poll site here. Check your voter registration status here.
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