Crossing Coalitions on the New York City Council: A Q&A With Susan Zhuang

Zhuang has served immigrant New Yorkers since she started out in politics working for Assemblymember William Colton, another south Brooklyn Democrat with a diverse district. Since her election in 2023, she’s focused on helping her district’s large Chinese, Bengali, Pakistani, Eastern European, and Latino immigrant communities. At her district office in Bensonhurst, staff speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, Russian, and Spanish help constituents navigate Social Security, handle complaints about the local post office, and call the Department of Health to deal with rats in local buildings.

In recent months, the office has focused on helping constituents who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and preparing people for encounters with immigration authorities. Zhuang records videos in Mandarin informing people of their rights and explaining what kinds of documents they should carry in case they get stopped by federal agents. The videos have gotten thousands of views on WeChat, a platform popular among Chinese immigrants. Zhuang said they reach well beyond her own constituents: She’s gotten calls from residents of other boroughs seeking immigration advice, as well as messages on TikTok from teenagers worried about their immigrant parents.

Outside her district, Zhuang is probably best known for getting arrested for biting a cop during a protest against a proposed homeless shelter in her district in 2024. The incident seemed to baffle leadership at the New York City Police Department, whose union endorsed her in 2023 over her Republican opponent. Constituents helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for her legal defense and organized a parade to show their support.

Her criminal charges, including assault, were dismissed earlier this year after she completed a restorative justice session. The tough-on-crime Democrat said she has since organized a training to inform local community leaders on restorative justice.

To better understand her place in New York politics, New York Focus sat down with Zhuang at her district office. In the following conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, the councilmember offers her thoughts on Trump’s immigration crackdown, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and why she thinks many immigrants in her community feel disconnected from the political process.

New York Focus: How did your background as an immigrant influence your decision to work in politics and run for City Council?

Susan Zhuang: Assemblymember Colton helped a lot of people who were not able to read English. In his office, people came in with letters. Some Russian seniors would come in to say, “Can you tell me what’s the letter about?” I see he helped a lot of people, and then I said, maybe I can volunteer here too. I speak Chinese, English, and also I have a finance background. I can help people do tax returns. This is how I started volunteering in his office. Then, when his chief of staff retired, he hired me.

Immigrant communities really have no voice. Because of the language barrier, the culture differences, they don’t know where to find the resources. The background I have is really similar to most of the people in my district.

NYF: Sixty percent of the voters in your district chose Trump last year. Why was that the case?

SZ: I believe because of public safety — they want government to have a focus on public safety. The message the Republicans had was very good last year. They always say they protect the community, they will keep the costs down.

People had four years with Biden, and then they hoped something would change. The only change that has happened is the large number of deportations happening in the community.

NYF: In February, members of the Common Sense Caucus met with White House “border czar” Tom Homan to talk about immigration. You decided to skip that meeting, breaking with your colleagues. Can you tell me why you decided not to attend?

SZ: I’m an immigrant myself. I don’t believe that all the immigrants are bad. The information in certain media platforms saying all the immigrants take all the resources, take all benefits, they commit serious crime — is wrong. They contribute to our city, they work hard, and make their living here. They’re hardworking families. We need to leave them alone.

NYF: What do the other members of the Common Sense Caucus say to you when you talk about immigration policies?

SZ: We have some differences. I have agreement with them on most stuff, but for immigration issues, I have to support our community. I cannot turn my back to my own community.

NYF: Can you tell me about what you’re seeing in terms of immigration enforcement in your district?

SZ: I did a video — know your rights, in Chinese. I posted specifically in a Chinese WeChat group. Suddenly, overnight I have 50–60,000 clicks. On a small platform, that’s a lot.

I realized that people are really worried. After people saw the video, they started calling my office and telling me what happened to them. Then we started to notice a lot of people getting detained [by ICE] from the Chinese community. I did another video: know what ID to carry with you. I did it in English and Chinese. Then we started seeing a number of phone calls come to our office: “What should I do? What if my family member gets detained? Can you help me?” These types of questions. I even had some kids text me on TikTok saying, “My parents are immigrants. I’m really worried about my parents. What do I do?”

NYF: Are those kids your constituents?

SZ: I believe they live in my area. Everyone thinks because I speak Chinese, I’m their councilmember. From Staten Island, Queens, Manhattan, and also Brooklyn, even people that don’t live in my district, they still call me.

NYF: What are the circumstances under which people are getting detained by ICE that you’re hearing about?

SZ: I did not hear anyone [get detained who committed a] serious crime. The cases I hear are: this person overstayed a visa, this person lost an immigration case a few years ago, they were checking in at 26 Federal Plaza regularly and then suddenly ICE comes in and detains the person.

One case hit me really hard personally. Across the street [from my office], I have a coffee shop owner who got detained. I [had done] a video to promote his business. When I heard he got detained, oh my god, I thought I made a huge mistake. I was crying. “What are we going to do? Is that because of my video?” I was blaming myself for weeks. And then I spoke to a lot of lawyer friends. They said it should not be because of the video. But still, I feel like, [even] people across the street — I cannot protect them.

The coffee shop owner, an immigrant from Algeria who overstayed a visa, has been detained in Louisiana for weeks, according to Zhuang’s office.

NYF: I want to pivot a little bit to the mayoral election. You endorsed former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the primary.

SZ: In the general, I did not endorse anyone.

NYF: How are you feeling about the result?

SZ: I see people want public safety, want quality education, especially for the gifted and talented program. That’s a big, big topic in this area. Every kid is gifted or talented in different ways, but [parents] want to have a choice there. They worry that their choice could be taken away. Cuomo’s message [on that] probably lined up with the community. I think that’s the reason he won my area. But still, Mamdani is an immigrant. People do see themselves there, so some people voted for Mamdani.

Mamdani has called for phasing out the gifted and talented track for kindergartners, saying the program unfairly segregates kids at a young age based on flawed metrics. Cuomo said he would have expanded it.

NYF: Mamdani is going to be the first South Asian mayor in our history, and his campaign was powered by turning out, in particular, new immigrant voters—

SZ: And also the Asian community.

NYF: And the Asian community. And you’re the first person to represent a majority Asian council district in Brooklyn. You and Mayor-elect Mamdani have very different politics. What does his victory tell you about the different Asian communities here in New York City, and how the politics in those communities are shifting?

SZ: I do think there’s ethnic pride there. We want to see other Asian people that look like us, speak like us, and also have immigrant backgrounds get elected.

In the Asian community, not a lot of people join politics because they don’t see themselves there. After I got elected and I see the change in the community, a lot of young kids come to me and say, “Susan, can I take a picture with you?” Which is very cute. That means the kids are proud of themselves. I do see that Mamdani has that effect with a lot of people from Asian communities.