NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani opens free child care programme to all, including immigrants’ children

Zohran Mamdani (centre, in red tie) has promised free childcare for every New Yorker

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday that "everyone" can apply for the free child care programme, expanding benefits to immigrants' children. This comes amid an intensified crackdown on immigrants by ICE.

Mamdani has been a vocal critic of the anti-immigrant rhetoric, has said that his administration is "proud" that New York City is an "immigrant city." At roundtable to build awareness about the child care program, Mamdani announced that the New York administration won't check immigration status for universal child care enrollees.

Meanwhile, federal agents in a Minneapolis suburb took a five-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos - who was arriving home from preschool - to a detention facility on Tuesday, school officials and the family's lawyer said.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that "ICE did NOT target a child." She said ICE was arresting his father, who she said is from Ecuador and in the US illegally. "For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child," McLaughlin said.

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