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Janae Pierre: Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City, from WNYC. It's Thursday, March 13th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill.

Michael Hill: The Trump administration wants Mahmoud Khalil's case moved outside New York City. This morning, the Columbia University graduate and green card holder remains in a Louisiana detention facility. WNYC's Samantha Max was at yesterday's hearing.

Samantha Max: Khalil played a leading role in campus protest against the war in Gaza. His lawyers say he is a legal permanent resident. Attorneys are urging a judge to release Khalil. A crowd of supporters cheered for the lawyers as they left court.

[crowd cheers]

Samantha Max: Kahlil's attorneys say their client is being detained illegally and punished for exercising his First Amendment rights. Government officials say he aligned himself with the terrorist group Hamas but didn't provide evidence in court. Khalil is being held at a detention facility in Louisiana and did not appear in court.

Michael Hill: After taking a nosedive during the pandemic, the number of people living in New York City is increasing. WNYC's Giulia Heyward reports.

Giulia Heyward: According to a new report from the Census Bureau, the number of people living in the New York, Newark, and Jersey City metropolitan areas increased from 2023 to 2024. The metropolitan area ranked at the top of places in the country that saw its numbers grow in that same time window, and Kings County, also known as Brooklyn, grew to one of the top 10 most populous counties in the nation. The Census Bureau says that the number of people living in metropolitan areas across the country increased by almost 3.2 million people.

Michael Hill: Some parents are calling on the Adams administration to expand the city's free child care program to two-year-olds because they say the high cost of care is forcing families to leave New York. Margaret Day has a two-month-old and a three-year-old. She was rallying outside City Hall this week to call attention to the affordability crisis.

Margaret Day: I was just calculating in my head that I probably will spend about $40,000 this coming year on child care. To be able to reduce that number when my smallest is two would be just such a huge help.

Michael Hill: Families are paying an average of $21,000 a year on child care. Some City Council members and advocates say they hope to get more funding earmarked for child care in today's city budget education hearing. That's at 10:00 and 1:00 today.

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Michael Hill: Taking a look at your weather, 40 and clear now. Nice and cool. Partly sunny. Still cool today, a high of 49.

Janae Pierre: Stick around. There's more to come.

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Sean Carlson: It is time for Politics Brief from WNYC. The Trump administration sent New York politicians into a frenzy once again this week, this time by detaining a recent Columbia University graduate and threatening to deport him over his pro-Palestinian activism. Plus, while the case stokes fears over a crackdown on free speech, the city bid farewell to a long-serving civil rights leader. WNYC's Brigid Bergin and Jon Campbell join us now to unpack all of this and more. Jon, we started with the news about Mahmoud Khalil. He's the green card-holding grad student at Columbia University who is currently in ICE detention. Where are New York officials on this?

Jon Campbell: Well, Sean, there's been really a mix of reaction to this, but when it comes to Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul, neither of them really took a particularly strong position. Adams, for example, said it's not his job to weigh in on federal issues like this. He says that's ICE's job. Governor Hochul, she did talk about the arrest, but she took pains not to take sides. When she spoke to us about this yesterday, she spoke out against anti-Semitism, but then she said she doesn't know enough whether to say Khalil's detention is justified or whether it's a political act. She said she's going to reserve judgment until the federal courts weigh in.

Brigid Bergin: I would say that that really does contrast with how some of the other candidates for mayor, Mayor Adams excluded, reacted to this. Of course, Andrew Cuomo similarly avoided speaking about the topic. His campaign issued a statement that condemns anti-Semitism on campuses and says, "Campus agitators have gone unchecked too long," but by contrast, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said this at a press conference before today's City Council meeting.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams: I believe that the Trump administration's actions to detain Mr. Khalil, who is a permanent resident with a green card, without legal justification was a new low. Blatantly violating the Constitution was a new low.

Brigid Bergin: She went on to say that no matter how people feel about Khalil's views, the actions of the Trump administration really should be worrying everybody because it's another kind of moving towards authoritarianism. She said, "Who's going to be detained next just because they disagree with what the person's saying?"

Sean Carlson: Now, Jon, the nation's border czar, Tom Homan, was in Albany today. How did that go?

Jon Campbell: He was in Albany at the capitol, right outside where I'm speaking to you now, to speak out against sanctuary policies in New York City, New York State. He pushed a couple of Republican-sponsored bills that would force the state to cooperate with ICE, but it really led to this really tense situation out in the hallway. There were a couple dozen angry Democratic lawmakers who were outside the door where Homan was speaking. They were mad in part because of that detention of Mahmoud Khalil. When Tom Homan finally came out, he was literally chomping on an apple.

Sean Carlson: Oh, wow.

Jon Campbell: He gave the protesters a smirk and a wave as he walked right by. That really made him mad. Listen to this.

Zohran Mamdani: What charges did you detain Mahmoud Khalil on?

Crowd Member: You are lost.

[crowd jeers]

Zohran Mamdani: Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan? Do you believe in the First Amendment?

[crowd jeers]

Zohran Mamdani: Do you believe in the First Amendment?

Jon Campbell: Now, the most prominent voice you heard there, that was Zohran Mamdani, that's the Queens assembly member who was running for mayor. A viral confrontation would do his campaign well. He got within 1 foot or 2 of Tom Homan and was really pushing him on Khalil's arrest. That was in stark contrast to the reception that Mayor Adams has given Tom Homan, who's-- he's extended a cooperative hand to Tom Homan.

Brigid Bergin: It's so interesting because we know that the Mamdani team is really savvy when it comes to their social media. The fact that they were able to capture that moment, which will appeal to so many of the voters who, I think, he is trying to reach out to. When Homan was here in New York, there were some protests, but he also, I think, left New York City with a lot in hand. Of course, after that meeting with Mayor Adams, the mayor announced changes to Rikers Island, allowing ICE to come back into Rikers Island, which they had been not allowed and had been kicked off of during the de Blasio administration.

Of course, there was that moment on Fox & Friends when the two of them were sitting there, Mayor Adams and Tom Homan, the border czar, where he publicly said that Adams will now have to stand by the Trump administration's immigration policies, otherwise, he would be back in the city. I think "up his butt" was the phrase that he used, a choice phrase that is burned in my brain, [laughter] but it was definitely a stark contrast to what I think Jon was describing there in Albany.

Sean Carlson: That's very interesting.

Jon Campbell: It's burned in all of our brains.

Brigid Bergin: I think so.

Sean Carlson: Yes, absolutely. Interesting exchange, to say the least. Let's stay with mayoral candidates. We're going to turn now to someone who used to be up in Albany but is now trying to be mayor of New York City. Brigid, you've been reporting on Andrew Cuomo's campaign. What did you find?

Brigid Bergin: Well, we're approaching the end of a fundraising period, Sean, so we're getting ready to do some reporting on their first filing. This will be the first campaign finance filing for the new Cuomo mayoral campaign.

As I was looking to see some background information, I found that his campaign treasurer, the person who's been hired to ensure campaign compliance is a guy named Christopher Graham, a registered Republican from Long island who has also done work for other Republican candidates and recently for a committee called The Coalition to Protect Kids, which was a ballot committee that worked last year to fight Proposition 1, which was a ballot question that was about enshrining abortion access and anti discrimination into the state constitution.

That particular group, in the fighting against it, really talked about the threats to parents' rights and particularly leaned into this idea of the threats to girls' sports. We talked to the Cuomo campaign, and then we talked to some other folks who raised some concerns about it. The Cuomo campaign said very simply-- his spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, called it silly season, said this is a campaign compliance professional, that's why he was hired. Pointed to Cuomo's record on these issues, but there were others who raised some concerns about it, so that's something that we're watching.

I will note that he, this particular individual, Christopher Graham, does not exclusively work for Republicans. One of his other clients is City Council Member Gale Brewer, who is really among one of the furthest-- you know, an esteemed, good, government type. She said, "He's a really good CPA." That's why she hired him.

Sean Carlson: Okay. We're going to try to get another one in here before we have to let you guys go. Jon, Cuomo's successor having a bit of a rough month up in Albany. What is going on with her?

Jon Campbell: It seems like every single day, Governor Kathy Hochul has a new crisis to deal with, a metaphorical fire to put out. Just in the last four weeks, it's been a prison strike. She's had to weigh removing Mayor Adams. Donald Trump tried to stop congestion pricing. The attorney general sued her over the state's driver's license law, and, oh, yes, Andrew Cuomo jumped in the mayor's race. They're not big fans of each other.

Sean Carlson: [chuckles]

Jon Campbell: That doesn't even count the literal brush fires on Long Island. So far, it hasn't really had an impact on her poll numbers. That's the good news. The bad news is that's in part because they were pretty bad to begin with. She was at 40% approval in a Siena Poll earlier this week.

Sean Carlson: Well, we will leave with our listener question of the week. We want to know what you think of Governor Hochul's policy priorities, things like banning smartphones during the school day and sending rebate checks to New Yorkers. If you want to weigh in or keep hearing more from our politics team, be sure to sign up for emails@gothamist.com/newsletters. We'll see you again in a week for the next Politics Brief. Jon, Brigid, thanks so much.

Brigid Bergin: Thank you.

Jon Campbell: Thanks, Sean.

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Janae Pierre: Thanks for listening. This is NYC Now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More soon.

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