Mamdani Transition Adviser’s Nonprofit Under Congressional Investigation for Allegedly Teaching Illegal Aliens How To Evade ICE

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) transition team includes a man whose organization is under congressional investigation for allegedly teaching illegal aliens how to evade ICE officers, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
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Mamdani Transition Adviser’s Nonprofit Under Congressional Investigation for Allegedly Teaching Illegal Aliens How To Evade ICE

The news comes after a campaign in which the New York City mayor-elect vowed to prevent ICE from carrying out deportations

Zohran Mamdani (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) transition team includes a man whose organization is under congressional investigation for allegedly teaching illegal aliens how to evade ICE officers, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Mamdani named Wayne Ho, who has served as president and CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) nonprofit since 2017, to his Committee on Social Services last month. The House Committee on Homeland Security opened an investigation into CPC in April based on a video showing a member of CPC’s leadership "explaining strategies for avoiding and potentially impeding immigration officials during a seminar in New York," according to a letter from then-committee chairman and former congressman Mark Green (R., Tenn.).

Green wrote that the committee was "deeply concerned that CPC and other NGOs that receive taxpayer dollars may be advising or training illegal aliens on strategies to avoid cooperation with immigration officials." Though Green no longer leads the committee, a staff member confirmed to the Free Beacon that the investigation is ongoing.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R., N.Y.), who has served as chairman since July, told the Free Beacon in a statement that he and the rest of the Committee on Homeland Security plan to hold those who work to impede ICE’s mission accountable.

"I am disappointed but not surprised that the incoming mayor is providing a platform to an individual who is associated with an organization that has reportedly worked to undermine law enforcement," Garbarino said. "I encourage the mayor-elect to stick to his recent promise to support law enforcement, particularly given his past statements to the contrary. The Committee will continue conducting oversight of the rise in anti-law enforcement sentiment as it continues to threaten those on the frontlines of the homeland security mission."

The revelation that a Mamdani appointee is under congressional investigation comes after a campaign in which the mayor-elect vowed to prevent ICE from carrying out deportations of illegal aliens in New York City. President Donald Trump sued the city in July of this year, arguing its sanctuary policies interfere with the enforcement of federal immigration law. Trump said during an Oval Office press conference with Mamdani that the pair did not discuss immigration enforcement at length in their recent meeting. The confirmation that the investigation has continued, though, suggests Republicans will fight the democratic socialist's efforts to impede ICE, as does a statement provided to the Free Beacon by Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS.

"As it does every day, DHS will enforce the law, including in New York City," McLaughlin said. "When sanctuary politicians ignore ICE detainers, they are protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens."

In addition to allegedly helping illegal aliens evade ICE, CPC has taken in tens of thousands of dollars each year from Chinese Communist Party-aligned sources—including state-run enterprises like the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and government delegates—the Daily Caller News Foundation reported in May.

CPC has faced accusations of unlawful business practices as well. Protesters in spring of this year demonstrated outside a CPC fundraiser, alleging the organization’s senior home health care employees had been forced to work 24-hour days without receiving compensation for more than 13 of those hours.

Ho did not respond to a Free Beacon request for comment.