New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent suggestion that he is “in active conversation” about arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York has generated headlines—and confusion about what authority a mayor actually possesses.
The answer is straightforward: under current American law, there is no legal mechanism allowing the Mayor of New York City to direct the NYPD to arrest a sitting foreign head of government based solely on an International Criminal Court warrant.
Mamdani knows this — but still appears willing to try.
The problem for the mayor begins with the ICC itself. While the Court has issued a warrant for Netanyahu, the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC, and Congress has never authorized state or local police to execute ICC warrants.
In fact, neither Israel nor any recognized representative of the Palestinian people are parties to the Rome Statute, either. The ICC is not a foreign nation, has no treaty with the United States, and has simply no force of law under the current circumstances. They are a nullity.
Furthermore, foreign affairs and recognition of international tribunals are federal responsibilities. New York’s extradition laws implement the U.S. Constitution, federal law, and interstate procedures—not warrants issued by an international court operating outside the American judicial system.
That leaves Mamdani without any lawful criminal process to invoke. And he can’t simply devise some legal “workaround” based on his own belief system. This is still America — not Britain, for instance, with its creeping sharia “courts.”
Should Mamdani give such an order to the NYPD, he is courting trouble. The NYPD Patrol Guide requires officers to obey lawful orders. An order lacking legal authority is by definition not a lawful one.
More importantly, directing officers to detain someone without legal authority could expose everyone involved to legal jeopardy. Under New York law, kidnapping consists of unlawfully restraining another person, while the state’s conspiracy statute criminalizes agreements to commit crimes. Whether such charges could ultimately be sustained would depend on proof of every statutory element, but prosecutors could certainly examine whether an unlawful arrest ordered from City Hall crossed that line into, at the least, felony conspiracy to kidnap.
Recall, too, that there is a federal kidnapping statute as well. And federal prosecutors ultimately answer to President Trump.
Any NYPD member — right up to the Police Commissioner — asked to carry out such an order would therefore have strong legal grounds to refuse to obey and unlawful order and seek guidance from the appropriate union legal counsel.
History illustrates the distinction here. In 1995, Mayor Rudy Giuliani had Yasser Arafat removed from a city-sponsored reception after he appeared without an invitation. Giuliani, a former U.S. Attorney, never suggested he could arrest Arafat. He understood the difference between controlling access to a municipal event and exercising the sovereign power to deprive someone of his liberty.
However strongly Mayor Mamdani may oppose Netanyahu, political disagreement cannot create arrest authority where none exists.
Attempting to do so in this instance could possibly create unique arrest authority — just not the one Mamdani thinks.
(And for more on the exalted ICC, see The Ops Wire Updates, below. That court’s not exactly coming to all this with clean hands).
Houston Hates Warrants
When a warrant pops on a computer check, cops across the country know what they have to do. They investigate, confirm the warrant with the originating agency, ensure the person is extraditable, and make the arrest. In the NYPD, supervisors routinely reviewed warrant checks to ensure less enthusiastic officers made the required collar. If you didn’t make the arrest, you could face discipline. It’s simply part of the job.
No doubt Houston has a similar policy. Yet the Houston City Council recently tried to change police enforcement when it comes to ICE administrative warrants. A few months ago, the council passed a measure preventing Houston officers from doing what they had long done. In April, it enacted Houston Code of Ordinances §34-31, which states:
During a field encounter, in accordance with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, officers may temporarily detain an individual only as long as reasonably necessary to complete the legitimate purpose of the initial stop or investigation. An ICE administrative warrant is civil in nature and, alone, does not justify a stop, arrest, or continued detention by local law enforcement, like HPD. If independent reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense sufficient to justify arrest or continued detention does not exist, the individual must be released.
The ordinance also requires the Houston Police Department to report all ICE-related enforcement activity to the City Council every quarter.
Before the ordinance, Houston officers would notify ICE and detain an individual for a reasonable period, at the officer’s discretion. That made sense. Cops know their communities. They know who is committing crimes or creating disorder. If they already have such a person lawfully stopped, let them notify ICE.
Orders directing local police not to cooperate with ICE are becoming increasingly common. Local officers are not—and should not be—hunting down civil immigration warrants for the federal government. But if they already have someone lawfully detained, why release that person only to force another encounter later? We’ve seen too many ICE arrests end badly, due in part to today’s anti-ICE climate, suspects’ fear of deportation, and, at times, questionable tactics during stand-alone ICE operations.
Fortunately, Houston is an outlier in the mostly red State of Texas. In 2017, Texas prohibited sanctuary cities—a law every state should consider. The Houston ordinance appeared designed to push back against that legislation. It’s another example of trying to move the line one step at a time.
Governor Greg Abbott wasn’t having it. He quickly warned Houston that the city could lose as much as $114 million in grant funding. Politicians who love spending money couldn’t stomach that kind of hit. The council stripped out most of the ordinance, allowing Houston officers to continue honoring ICE warrants.
What they did keep was the quarterly reporting requirement.
Now that the first report has been released, Council Member Alejandra Salinas, who sponsored the original measure, has published the data on her website and criticized the Houston Police Department in the media. Typical political theater. Publicly highlighting and condemning officers’ lawful cooperation with ICE makes their jobs harder and less safe. Shame on her.
Let’s recall a simple fact: America is a nation of laws, and those here illegally have already broken the law.
One would think our lawmakers could appreciate that simple fact.
True Crime Girl: Nine Psychiatric Drugs. Three Dead Children. One Trial Begins
Jury selection is scheduled to begin this week in one of the most horrific and closely watched criminal cases in recent Massachusetts history, as Lindsay Clancy prepares to stand trial in the deaths of her three young children. The former labor and delivery nurse has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, setting the stage for what is expected to be a six-to-eight-week trial examining severe mental illness, postpartum disorders, psychiatric medications, and criminal responsibility.
Clancy is accused of killing her own children—5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan—at the family’s Duxbury home on January 24, 2023, before attempting to take her own life by cutting herself and jumping from a second-story window. The fall left her paralyzed from the chest down. Prosecutors contend the killings were deliberate and planned, while the defense argues Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis and, as such, lacked criminal responsibility.
According to court filings, Clancy sought mental health treatment for months before the tragedy. Her attorneys and a civil malpractice lawsuit allege she was prescribed nine psychiatric medications in rapid succession, including antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and sleep aids, while experiencing worsening anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks, intrusive thoughts, and suicidal ideation. The defense contends she was misdiagnosed, over-medicated, and ultimately developed postpartum psychosis.
Prosecutors dispute that account, arguing she understood the nature of her actions.
Another key issue at trial will be whether Clancy’s psychiatric illness was longstanding or emerged after the birth of her youngest child. Public court records do not indicate she had a documented history of severe mental illness before 2022. According to her attorneys, she had functioned for years as a successful nurse, wife, and mother before her mental health rapidly deteriorated in the months following childbirth.
The malpractice lawsuit, however, alleges she suffered from previously unrecognized Bipolar I disorder that went undiagnosed, leading clinicians to prescribe medications that worsened her condition rather than treating the underlying illness. Those allegations remain disputed and have yet to be proven in court.
And despite the loss of their three children, Clancy’s husband, Patrick, has stood by his wife’s side, publicly forgiving her and maintaining that severe mental illness—not malice—caused the tragedy. He is expected to testify — for the defense.
Patrick and Lindsay Clancy have also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, mental health practice, and the entire healthcare system. The suit alleges providers failed to coordinate her care, ignored signs that her condition was rapidly deteriorating, overlooked reports of suicidal thoughts, and continued prescribing medications despite warnings that she may have been over-medicated.
For their part, these civil defendants deny wrongdoing. In a sense, the Claytons are putting the entire current approach to treating mental illness and post-partum depression on trial — as Lindsay Clayton, wheelchair-bound, fights for her freedom.
The trial is expected to feature extensive expert testimony on postpartum psychosis, psychiatric medications, and whether Clancy was legally capable of understanding or controlling her actions. Its outcome could influence how courts evaluate severe postpartum mental illness in future criminal cases in Massachusetts and even nationwide — the case is that unique.
We’ll be watching and providing updates. But no matter how the case turns out: there will be no winners here. Not with three young children having lost their lives.
Weekend Pod: It’s The Energy, Stupid!
In which Paul learns what the common denominator is… for pretty much everything.
Join us on this week’s pod for a hang with Daniel Turner, energy expert and founder of the energy think tank, Power The Future.
Folks, if you’re wondering what single issue underlies pretty much every national and international decision out there these days… look no further. It’s something Americans take for granted. But have you ever considered how the sausage is actually made?
Daniel Turner has made this single question his life’s work — and he explains here why we fight wars, who is undermining us here at home, where the future investments will be… and why Europe has guaranteed their continued obsolescence going forward.
This one is, in our opinion, one of the most interesting discussions we’ve had yet.
So click below for the sizzle… and HERE for the full pod.
Hope to see you there.
Updates From THE OPS WIRE….
UK/Ireland: The immigration pushback keeps getting uglier. In Suffolk (Eastern England), counter-terror police arrested 12 people over what police say was a planned attack on a major Islamic gathering. Separately, in London, a 14-year-old boy was charged over an alleged terror plot targeting two mosques. In Northern Ireland a man was arrested for burning a replica of a mosque on top of a loyalist bonfire (in the past they would have burned IRA symbols). There have also been at least 7 other documented arson attacks in Northern Ireland – though details on the identities and motive on these remain hazy (why?). But at least some of it appears to be related to the ongoing immigration battles.
The Hague/Washington: The ICC fight is now fully out in the open. Chief prosecutor Karim Khan remains suspended from his role at the ICC based on a pending sexual assault allegation – the United Kingdom (his home country) has also temporarily suspended his ability to practice law there. He still denies wrongdoing, and while his cases at the ICC are in theory not impacted (including the cases against Putin and Netanyahu), losing the main prosecutor certainly muddies the water. Meanwhile, Sec. of State Marco Rubio issued a major public statement last week announcing a campaign to “dismantle” the ICC threat to American sovereignty. For more on the history of ICC, see our OpsDesk podcast here; and for further on how Zohran Mamdani wants to use ICC warrants to arrest Israel’s prime minster (against American law) see Law Wars article here.
Mexico/Washington: The U.S. formally designated the Juárez Cartel and Los Viagras as foreign terrorist organizations. Juárez is an old-line border cartel tied to the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez corridor. Los Viagras are a violent Michoacán crew tied to extortion, trafficking, and cartel war in western Mexico. Translation: This is more of Donald Trump’s campaign to stamp out transnational crime that Paul spoke about in last week’s episode of Nightwatch. Things south-of-the-border hotter than ever….
Hot Spots we’re watching:
San Salvador: El Salvador’s massive MS-13 trial is now awaiting a verdict. It involved 485 alleged gang members (you read that right), three months of virtual proceedings from CECOT (the maximum security prison complex), and charges tied to more than 14,000 alleged crimes. If President Bukele gets a sweeping win, the CECOT model gets another legal trophy.… Somehow I suspect those guys are not getting out of prison.
New York/United Nations: The Security Council takes up Haiti this week – which remains one of, if not the, most disastrous place on earth. Gangs still rule large portions of the island and at some point some outside force is going to have to try to restore civilization there. Perhaps some progress this week, but it’s the U.N, so manage expectations. Unless you expect more pointless committees and meetings….
Caracas/Washington: Talks are scheduled for August 1 to sort out who is really going to run Venezuela and whether a real transition is coming and by what means. Expect maneuvering this week. Watch Diosdado Cabello (who names means “God given hair,” yet he’s bald — there’s a metaphor in there somewhere). Cabello is Hugo Chavez’s old military academy buddy and chief Chavista enforcer, still sanctioned by the U.S, yet still sitting inside the security state. He’s useful to Washington right now to help keep the place from burning, but at some point he’s got to go. He’s too dirty to bless, and too powerful to ignore. Banish to Spain, perhaps?
Manila/Washington: Marco Rubio is at the big Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) conference this week, and the big question is whether he uses the meeting to prepare a Trump-Xi summit, lock down the Philippines against Chinese pressure in the South China Sea, and push ASEAN to get serious on Myanmar and the region’s scam-compound crime networks. Translation: this is not just diplomacy. It is China, shipping lanes, cyber-fraud, human trafficking, and whether America is still the serious security player in Asia. Expect more of Trump’s transnational crime focus here. The good news: we have allies there. We’re not the only ones keeping a worried eye on Xi and China.
And finally….
Priorities.
Mamdani had better be careful for Netanyahu's security staff will not allow him to be "arrested" by any local law enforcement agency.
It's an act of open sedition.