The New York Police Department (NYPD) will not provide a security detail for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's wife, Rama Duwaji, during her planned trip to Syria and Lebanon, despite an earlier statement from the mayor's office that she would be accompanied by police.
"The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level 4 travel advisories for discretionary reasons such as personal travel," an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News.
Duwaji is planning to travel to Syria and Lebanon in September to visit family, according to the New York Post. Both countries are listed by the US State Department as "Do Not Travel" destinations because of terrorism concerns.
The mayor's office had previously said that Duwaji would have an NYPD security detail during the trip.
"Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the first lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon," Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec said.
Mamdani later attributed the conflicting statements to a staff "miscommunication" when questioned by PIX11 on Tuesday.
Scott Munro, president of the NYPD Detectives' Endowment Association, criticized the suggestion that NYPD detectives would accompany Duwaji to the Middle East.
"Our detectives put themselves in harm’s way every day protecting New Yorkers," Munro said, adding that the DEA would not remain silent if officers were asked to travel to a dangerous foreign country for anything other than a legitimate law-enforcement or intelligence operation.
"Our detectives are needed here in New York City protecting residents and fighting crime," he added.
The dispute comes amid Mamdani's past criticism of the NYPD. In 2020, he called for the department to be defunded and dismantled and described it as "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety."
He also said in another 2020 post that "What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD."
Mamdani has also previously linked the NYPD to the IDF. During a 2023 Democratic Socialists of America convention panel, he said that "when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF."
During his campaign for mayor, however, Mamdani said he did not want to defund the police.
The mayor was also booed last week when he attempted to speak at a pro-police event in Staten Island.