Mamdani touts home affordability, rips ICE amid blowback over budget

Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani On Saturday, he touted a Big Apple where “every family can buy a home” and called out the “cruelty and violence of ICE”; He faced criticism for proposing to raise property taxes to balance the city’s budget.

Mamdani made the remarks while paying tribute to the late Rev. Jesse Jackson at an event hosted by the Al Sharpton National Action Network.

“Hope is alive when New Yorkers link arms with someone they’ve never met before and march for the voiceless and the oppressed. When New Yorkers sacrifice precious free time in a city where every child can get the education they deserve, where every family can get a stable home, where our criminal justice system is fair and our economy is just, hope is alive when New Yorkers join arms in the fight for these things,” Mamdani said. he said.

“Hope is light. And we know that while Reverend Jackson may no longer be with us, his purpose remains undimmed, his clarity undimmed. Let the priest’s words be our guide as we work every day toward a New York that provides dignity for all, a nation that rejects the cruelty and violence of ICE, the stranger among us, and a society where compassion is not rare and solidarity is not abstract,” he added.

NYC RESIDENTS SAY MAMDANI HAS BEEN BREAKED OUT OF THE PROMISE OF REASONABLE HOUSING WITH PROPERTY TAX INCREASES

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mamdani called the Governor of New York. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers in Albany decided to increase income taxes on the “ultra-rich and most profitable corporations” to help close the city’s budget deficit.

Otherwise Mamdani “painful decisions of last resort” This includes a 9.5 percent property tax increase.

MAMDANI EXPLAINED HIS ‘OPINION’ THAT HE SUPPORTS REMOVING THE ICE

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a memorial service honoring the life of the Rev. Jesse Jackson hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN) at Mother AME Zion Church in New York City on Saturday, February 21, 2026. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

This increase would affect approximately 3 million households among working and middle-class New Yorkers.

Some New York City residents now claim that Mamdani is reneging on his affordable housing campaign promises by potentially increasing property taxes.

“You’re only giving two options. You’re saying I should raise property taxes if we don’t tax the rich,” Queen homeowner James Johnson was quoted as saying. he told WABC. “We are not a pawn in Southeast Queens. We are not part of your negotiating tactics.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani shakes hands with the Rev. Al Sharpton, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James and director Spike Lee, during a memorial service honoring the life of the Rev. Jesse Jackson on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in New York City. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

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Mamdani admitted that middle-class New Yorkers would bear the brunt of his proposal.

“This would be an effective tax on working and middle-class New Yorkers, whose median income is $122,000,” Mamdani said.

Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.