NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to veto controversial school security buffer zone bill

Josephine Stratman and Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News on Apr 24, 2026

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NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday he is vetoing a controversial bill that would have directed the NYPD to set up “buffer zones” around schools and educational institutions during protests.

Mamdani said he was letting a similar bill, to establish security perimeters around houses of worship, go into law.

On the schools-related buffer zone bill, Mamdani raised concerns about how widely the bill defines educational institutions, from schools to museums and teaching hospitals.

“This could impact workers protesting ICE, or college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights,” Mamdani said in a statement.

“[The bill] is not a narrow public safety measure,” he continued. “It is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups, and immigration advocates, among others, across this City.”

City Council Speaker Julie Menin, D-Manhattan, in a statement said the bill should not be seen as “controversial.”

“Ensuring students can enter and exit their schools without fear of harassment or intimidation should not be controversial,” Menin said. “This bill simply requires the NYPD to clearly outline how it will ensure safe access when there are threats of obstruction or physical injury, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”

The Council can hold another vote in an attempt to override Mamdani’s veto or let it stand. The bill, sponsored by Councilman Eric Dinowitz, D-Bronx, passed the legislative body with less than a veto-proof majority, 30-19, last month.

Mamdani’s veto comes after unions — including United Auto Workers Region 9, Teamsters 804 and SEIU-CIR — wrote a letter along with DSA NYC to the mayor pushing him to veto the bill, the Daily News first reported. Civil liberties groups such as the New York Civil Liberties Union also called for a veto.

On the buffer zone bill related to houses of worship, the mayor said he disagreed “with its framing of all protest as a security concern.” That bill, which had been scaled-back since its introduction that would have established a 100-foot security perimeter, passed with a veto-proof majority.

The push for both bills was sparked by a protest outside Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side in November. Amid sharp criticism over what some saw as an inadequate NYPD response, Menin vowed to pass a bill requiring the buffer zones. The protest was opposing a fair held at the synagogue by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit organization that helps Jews move to Israel and to the occupied West Bank.