The city has “a number of tools” to dissuade President Donald Trump from ordering an aggressive ICE operation, Mamdani said on ABC’s This Week.

“And whether those tools are the utilisation of the courts or it’s the tools of the bully pulpit or it’s our own city policies, we’re going to exhaust every option to protect New Yorkers,” he said.

The mayor defended New York’s sanctuary-city policies, which Trump opposes, and allows cities to limit their cooperation with federal agencies seeking to deport undocumented immigrants.

“Right now, you have masked agents who are terrorising people across this country. You have the loss of what it means to be an American in your own country, the sense of safety and the sense of self,” he said. “That’s something we should all be fighting.”

Mamdani and Trump have been in touch following a November meeting at the White House where the president said he wanted to see the mayor succeed.

Mamdani said Trump gave him his cell-phone number, and that their conversations have focused on delivering for New Yorkers. He declined to go into specifics.