Mamdani Fights Trump Rule as 'Fake News' Claim Emerges Over Viral 9/11 Ceremony Clip

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration's new public-charge rule, as a separate controversy continues over a video showing him briefly smiling while greeting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a 9/11 commemoration ceremony.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, 14 September 2026, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenges a federal rule due to take effect on Friday, 18 September. The regulation gives Department of Homeland Security officers broader discretion when assessing whether people seeking admission to the US or adjustment of status are likely to become a public charge.

Mamdani Challenges Public-Charge Rule

The rule revives and expands a public-charge policy introduced during President Donald Trump's first term and later rolled back under President Joe Biden. It allows immigration officials to consider certain means-tested public benefits when assessing an applicant's overall circumstances.

The regulation concerns the public-charge ground of inadmissibility. It does not mean that applying for or receiving benefits automatically results in the denial of a green card or visa.

Instead, DHS officers are instructed to make a broader, case-specific assessment that may take an applicant's financial resources and use of certain benefits into account.

Mamdani announced the New York City-led lawsuit alongside New York Attorney General Letitia James. A separate but coordinated legal challenge was filed by a coalition of states and local governments, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle and Santa Clara County.

The lawsuits argue that the rule is arbitrary, exceeds DHS's statutory authority and departs from the longstanding meaning of the public-charge provision.

'Immigrants are New Yorkers. And like I said once before, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,' Mamdani told reporters at City Hall.

'That is why today we are confronting this injustice with the solidarity and action that it demands,' he added.

Mamdani also described the rule as 'simply a vehicle for confusion and a vehicle for cruelty,' arguing that it would not reduce waste or improve public safety.

Under the rule, officers may consider means-tested public benefits as part of the assessment, using what DHS describes as 'good judgment and discretion.' However, the regulation generally does not allow officials to count benefits received by an applicant's family members.

There may be narrower circumstances in which benefits received by a family member are relevant to the applicant's financial circumstances, such as when those benefits are connected to the applicant's income.

Mamdani estimated that up to four million people could drop out of healthcare coverage because families feared potential immigration consequences. That figure was presented as his estimate, rather than an independently established projection.

The rule takes effect on 18 September 2026 and applies to people subject to the public-charge ground of inadmissibility, particularly those seeking admission to the US or adjustment of status.

9/11 Video Draws Criticism

The legal challenge comes days after Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez faced criticism over footage from a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial on 11 September 2026, marking the 25th anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

A short, silent clip showed the pair smiling during what appeared to be a brief greeting as the names of victims were being read. The footage prompted accusations online that they had behaved disrespectfully during the ceremony.

Trump criticised the interaction, describing it as 'terrible' and 'inappropriate.' Those were the president's characterisations of the footage, rather than established findings about the pair's conduct.

The interpretation of the clip was later disputed. Michael Ragusa, a former security chief for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who attended the ceremony, said on X that he had been standing near Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez throughout the event.

'The videos of @NYCMayor and @AOC laughing are not true,' Ragusa wrote. He said the camera had captured Ocasio-Cortez greeting Mamdani, while other politicians from both parties had also smiled or spoken during the ceremony.

Ragusa described himself as a lifelong Republican and said he had previously criticised both politicians, but was 'sick of this fake news and people just saying whatever they want.'

His account is an eyewitness description and does not independently establish the precise context of the exchange.

Longer footage appeared to show Mamdani standing solemnly before the greeting. It showed both politicians returning to neutral expressions afterwards, suggesting that the shorter viral clip lacked important context.

Other senior figures, including Giuliani and former first lady Michelle Obama, were also seen smiling at points during the ceremony, although the available footage did not show them doing so while victims' names were being read.

The public-charge lawsuits and the controversy over the 9/11 footage are separate issues. In both cases, the available evidence requires careful attribution rather than treating disputed political claims as established fact.