Scathing report exposes what New Yorkers think of sanctuary policies as Mamdani victory looms

As the New York City mayoral election quickly approaches and socialist Zohran Mamdani is heavily favored to win, New Yorkers are sounding off on the human toll that sanctuary policies have had on their city.

In a new investigative video released by The American Border Story (TABS), New Yorkers detailed their concerns about how the city's migrant shelters and sanctuary policies had resulted in a surge in organized crime in their neighborhoods.

One New Yorker said the blame for the policies lies directly with the progressive Democratic city council.

"This is the worst city council I have ever seen in my life in New York City," said Renee Collymore, a local organizer and Democrat.

"This council is a predominantly progressive, leftist, socialist council," Collymore went on. "And when you have a one-sided council, you can't get work done, because they believe that the middle of the road Democrats, the Democrats such as myself and my family, so many people in our district are traditional Democrats, they believe that we are the ones that are standing in the way of progress."

"If you know that there's gang activity and nothing is being done, shame on you. Because all that does is hurt the community. It puts people at risk," she said, adding, "The sanctuary city law has to be overturned."

Instead of overturning or amending the law, Collymore complained that "our legislators are acting like the migrants are their children," while telling moderates, "You’re anti-migrant."

"How am I anti-migrant? My father's from the West Indies. They make these claims because it's not affecting them where they live. But people who live on Hall Street will tell you, they were terrorized," she said, adding, "This is unbelievable."

According to Collymore, after a migrant shelter was opened in her community, there was a rise in sex trafficking and parents no longer felt safe taking their children to public playgrounds. She also said that Venezuelan gangs took over the streets and would even patrol the streets carrying metal pipes.

"This was not a joke. There were stabbings, a triple murder," she said.

Another New Yorker said that former President Joe Biden's "error was when he allowed certain countries, you know, like Venezuela, certain countries like Colombia, even certain countries in Europe and certain countries in Africa that he allowed to just exile their prisoners," large numbers of whom eventually found their way to New York City.

"I feel like his error was opening the borders and just saying, ‘Okay, send everybody and we're going to take them regardless of their background, regardless of any type of check being done," he said.

Dino, a pizzeria owner and immigrant himself, said that the migrant influx into New York brought up new challenges, including from gang members. He said that though sanctuary policies "could work on paper, in reality, it does not work."

Dino also told Fox News Digital, "I’ve run my business here for years — I know what this neighborhood used to feel like. Now my employees are scared walking home at night, customers are staying away, and gangs are running the streets."

"We need our leaders in New York to stop protecting politics and start protecting people," he said.