NYC Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry on cooperating with ICE: "It's important to have a seat at the table"
Kaz Daughtry on immigration enforcement
A new poll shows public opinion has shifted on cooperating with ICE agents, with the public now just about evenly divided between those who support cooperating with ICE and those who don't. Why is that?
"When it comes to working with the feds in regards to immigration, we only deal with criminal enforcement, Marcia. That's it. And the feds know ... we can not get involved involved in civil immigration matters. Criminal matters? We are all in," Daughtry said. "We can not get involved ... for civil immigration stuff. We can't do that. Hands off. They know it, we know it, and we don't try to skirt around it and see how we can work with them."
Daughtry said he's been criticized for working with the feds on criminal investigations involving transnational gangs.
"These are people ... bad people, bad people ... murders, robberies, they came here and they victimized New Yorkers," Daughtry said. "Taking these transnational gang members off our streets is helping New Yorkers."
What about the concerns of the immigrant community about using city services?
"Have you ever heard of a case where the feds, ICE, HSI going into one of our public schools?" Daughtry said. "Have you ever heard of an incident where the feds or ICE were going into a house of worship? This is why it's important to have a seat at the table, to see what's on the menu, and to be on the menu. And that's what the open dialogue between this administration and the federal authorities is all about."
Daughtry also spoke about the meeting he had with President Trump.
"We had conversations on the golf course. They will remain private," Daughtry said. "I will share this piece of information with you. The president is all about public safety. New York is a very special place to him. We have a connection - he was born in Queens. I was born in Queens. And he wants the best stuff to happen for New York City."
Daughtry on use of drones in public safety
Daughtry said he's hoping to install drones on the roofs of certain police precincts and fire department stationhouses.
"I want the drones on top of the firehouses, so when they get the call ... as soon as the drones get that alert, the drone would dispatch before the fire truck even comes out of the house," Daughtry said. "Then they can see exactly where the fire's at, and they can have an attack plan ... in place before they even get to the fire."
Daughtry also talked about the NYPD pursuing anti-drone technology, to take down hostile drones. He described using drones to shoot nets around hostile drones, which then deploy parachutes so that the hostile drones can safely land.
Daughtry also described his desire to have a public-facing drone dashboard, so people can see how the NYPD drones are being used.
"They can see exactly what the call is, and they would know that that drone was there to help them, instead of spy on them," Daughtry said.
Ken Jenkins on Westchester County and immigration enforcement
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said police in his county would work with the feds on criminal matters, not civil.
"As far as civil immigration matters, the county's not doing the federal government's job. If someone comes in with a judicial warrant, we honor those judicial warrants and we follow the law. But as far as just working with someone on a civil immigration matter, that is not our job to do. We help our federal law enforcement partners do what they need to do," Jenkins said.
Jenkins also spoke about the impact on Westchester County from the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump.
"The impact is huge. Six billion dollars of impact to all of our hospitals. We have world-class hospitals in Westchester County," Jenkins said. "The reduction is two-fold. So if someone is not on Medicaid anymore, they don't even have the insurance even at a minimum level, that hospital now is going to take that person in in the most expensive care possible - in an emergency room. And now, they're not going to get reimbursed for even that. So now the hospitals are going to be having challenges, which they already are, and people are not going to get served."
Your Point: Should bodega cats be legal?
Bodega cats, though beloved by many, are technically not legal. A new law looks to change that. What do New Yorkers think?
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TechCrunch
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What happened Sequoia's hands-off approach was put to the test earlier this week when the storied venture firm found itself in the eye of a storm over Maguire's inflammatory comments about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Maguire called him an 'Islamist' who 'comes from a culture that lies about everything' in a July 4th tweet on X that has since been viewed more than five million times. More than one thousand signatures have poured in since on a petition demanding that Sequoia condemn the remarks, investigate Maguire's conduct, and apologize. There's been a lot of talk about why Sequoia hasn't done this, with many outlets noting that Maguire isn't just any partner. This status owes partly to his friendship with Stripe's co-founder. According to reports, at a 2015 Founders Fund event, Maguire—then a Founders Fund-backed entrepreneur—defended Collison during an argument with Anduril's Palmer Luckey about quantum computing, earning Collison's friendship. The connection proved valuable when Maguire joined Google Ventures in 2016; he helped secure a $20 million Stripe investment during his first week. When Maguire left Google Ventures in 2019, Collison personally recommended him to Sequoia's partners. (Stripe has been in Sequoia's portfolio since 2010, with the firm investing more than $500 million over 15 years.) Maguire also led Sequoia's investment in Bridge, a stablecoin platform that Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion, and is reportedly Sequoia's link to Elon Musk, though this is probably somewhat overstated. Musk and Sequoia's global managing director, Roelof Botha, are both native South Africans and have known each other for more than 25 years, dating back to their time together at the then-nascent PayPal, where Botha was recruited personally by Musk. Despite that long relationship, the two haven't always seen eye to eye. Botha was highly critical of Musk's management style when Musk was CEO of the merged company, where Botha was CFO. Botha once told veteran journalist Ebbe Dommisse, 'I think it would have killed the company if Elon had stayed on as CEO for six more months. The mistakes Elon was making at the time were amplifying the risk of the business.' But Musk was at odds with pretty much that entire crew at the time, and those tensions have long since been resolved. Techcrunch event Save up to $475 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW The bigger point here: when you're managing tens of billions of dollars in assets and your firm's reputation rests on backing winners like Google, Stripe, and Nvidia, you don't easily cast aside a rainmaker. Meanwhile, Maguire's behavior suggests he's not backing down. After issuing a 30-minute video on X last weekend in which he apologized for offending so many — saying he was making a point about a political ideology and not one about a religion — he has doubled down with increasingly aggressive posts this week. He has claimed he has 'reverse engineered' his critics' 'command structure' and threatened to 'embarrass' anyone who escalates against him. He added that this is him at '1% throttle' and warned people not to 'fuck w children of the internet.' The silent treatment Sequoia has precedent for its approach to this situation. The firm has historically given its partners space to express themselves publicly, with figures like Doug Leone and Michael Moritz (who left the firm in 2023) representing different political perspectives. But there's a crucial difference between political diversity and inflammatory rhetoric and clearly to some, Maguire's comments extend beyond partisan politics into territory that alienates both political opponents and potential business partners. It's also worth remembering that even for Sequoia, there is a bright line. Michael Goguen, another, earlier rainmaker with the firm, was promptly shown the door when Sequoia learned of a sexual abuse lawsuit filed against him. The situations are hardly comparable; Goguen's issues were legal and personal, not ideological. At the same time, Sequoia has shown it isn't willing to circle the wagons at any cost, not if its reputation is at stake. Presumably, several factors inform Sequoia's do-nothing PR strategy, including how quickly people, faced with a constant flurry of news, move on from a scandal. The firm is also operating in a different political landscape right now in the U.S. Along with Donald Trump's victory and the rollback of DEI initiatives has come new tolerance for controversial speech. What might have been career-ending at an earlier point in time is now weathered more easily. The firm is also likely banking on the fact that while founders want partners who fit the traditional, more genteel VC mold, they want successful ones even more. Startups being courted by multiple top-tier firms might not like or agree with Maguire, but when Sequoia comes calling with its track record and almost bottomless pockets, most founders are going to welcome the firm with open arms. There's also the very real possibility that Sequoia is working on a contingency plan. (Sequoia declined to comment on Maguire's posts when reached by TechCrunch earlier this week.) Still, Sequoia's silence carries risks. Not all the signers have been confirmed, but the petition against Maguire includes the names of some prominent Middle Eastern executives and founders who have attested to signing it, and they represent the kind of diverse, global talent pool that drives innovation. By not addressing the controversy, Sequoia risks being seen as tacitly endorsing Maguire's views. Put another way, though the venture capital world has historically been remarkably forgiving of controversial figures with exceptional deal flow, the firm is gambling with its reputation in an increasingly connected global market where alienating entire regions and communities carries real business consequences. Whether that bet pays off will depend on how long the controversy lingers, how much business it actually costs Sequoia, and whether Maguire can resist the urge to push things past Sequoia's own tolerance threshold. (He has said he doesn't post anything that hasn't been 'excrutiatingly thought out.') History suggests that established financial firms with strong track records tend to outlive their scandals, even serious ones. When Apollo Global Management's Leon Black resigned in 2021 over his $158 million payments to Jeffrey Epstein, the firm's stock barely moved and shareholders seemed largely unfazed. Apollo just continued its aggressive deal-making under new leadership. Similarly, Kleiner Perkins survived Ellen Pao's high-profile gender discrimination lawsuit in 2015. But it took years and essentially an entirely new team for the storied venture firm to regain its footing in Silicon Valley's hierarchy. The lesson here may be that while controversial partners can be endured, the recovery timelines can vary significantly depending on how firms handle the crisis. For now, the crisis communications professional, who asked not to be named, has some advice for Maguire and, by extension, Sequoia. Regarding the video Maguire published in the aftermath of his initial comments, the expert said, 'I did think that apology addressed the ambiguities in [Maguire's] post. But it's a 30-minute video — you have to be really interested to watch this.' If there's a next time, the professional said, Maguire should 'do two videos — one for three minutes' and another, longer video, for anyone who wants to keep watching. Sometimes, the expert added, 'less is more.'
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