Ana Maria Archila

Archila is notable as an aggressive activist who is known to confront Republican politicians and has been arrested multiple times during protests. She has embraced radical political stances, including the defunding of police and providing free health care to illegal immigrants. ^{3 4}

Career

Ana Maria Archila was born in Colombia and immigrated to the United States at 17. She involved herself in left-wing community organizing efforts on behalf of immigrants in New York City. ⁵ Archila began her career as a staff member of the Latin American Integration Center (LAIC), a left-of-center immigrant advocacy group in New York founded by Archila’s aunt, Sara Maria Archila. ⁶

In 2003, Sara Maria Archila died of cancer and Ana Maria Archila took over LAIC, eventually growing it into the largest immigrant-advocacy group in New York by membership. ⁶ In 2007, LAIC merged with Make the Road by Walking, another immigrant-advocacy group, to form Make the Road New York. ⁷ Archila led the merged organization for seven more years, where she advocated in support of left-of-center labor policies, including an increased minimum wage, government-mandated paid sick days for all employees, and stronger wage protections. ¹

In October 2023, Archila was appointed as a co-director of the New York Working Families Party (WFP) along with Jasmine Gripper and was no longer serving with CPD. ²

In February 2026, Archila was appointed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to serve as Commissioner for International Affairs within his administration, and was expected to step down from her position with WEP leaving Gripper as sole director of WEP. ⁸

Archila has been arrested at least three times during protests, including in 2022 alongside left-wing activist Linda Sarsour, who has faced criticism for her associations with figures accused of antisemitism and for promoting views equating Zionism with white supremacy. She has described Sarsour as part of her “sisterhood of women warriors.” ⁴

Archila has advocated for defunding police departments and providing free health care to illegal immigrants. She identifies as “queer and proud.” ⁴

Political Activities and Working Families Party

In 2022, Archila ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York on the Working Families Party line, advancing from the WFP primary but losing in the Democratic primary to incumbent Antonio Delgado. ⁹

In October 2023, Archila was appointed co-director of the New York Working Families Party alongside Jasmine Gripper. Under their leadership, the WFP endorsed  Zohran Mamdani (D) for New York City mayor in 2025, contributing to his election victory. The party targeted U.S. House races and pushed back against mainstream Democratic policies, including Governor Kathy Hochul’s (D) demands for rollbacks to criminal justice leniency. ¹⁰

In 2024, the WFP under Archila urged New York voters to cast “uncommitted” or “leave it blank” ballots in the Democratic presidential primary to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Archila personally promoted this effort. ¹¹

In February 2026, the WFP announced it would not endorse Governor Kathy Hochul or Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado for re-election, citing disagreements with their center-left positions. The party also endorsed Antonio Reynoso for New York’s 7th Congressional District. ^{12 13}

Anti-Israel Activism

Archila has faced criticism for her views on the Israel-Gaza conflict. Shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, the Working Families Party under her co-leadership called for a ceasefire and urged the U.S. to cut off military aid to Israel, claiming it would give Israel a “blank check” for actions killing Palestinians. She promoted false claims, such as that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, which was later attributed to a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket. ⁴

In 2023, the WFP considered endorsing a bill titled “Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act,” which targeted Jewish organizations and nonprofits supporting Israeli settlements and aid to families of terror victims. Critics, including Democratic legislators, called the bill “purely antisemitic.” Several Jewish elected officials severed ties with the WFP over this position. ¹⁴

Some critics in early 2026 predicted that, as New York City International Affairs Commissioner, Archila would reverse economic partnerships with Israel, and she has drawn scrutiny for her lack of diplomatic experience and history of anti-Israel activism. ¹⁴

Center for Popular Democracy

In 2014, Ana Maria Archila became co-executive director of the left-of-center Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). ¹ As one of the organization’s leaders, she was an outspoken opponent of former President Donald Trump and his administration. Archila led protests against the detention of illegal immigrant children. ¹⁵ She advocated for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing that moderate immigration reform efforts had failed under former President Barack Obama’s administration and calling for radical, left-of-center policy implementation. ¹⁶

Archila advocated for expanded federal support for Puerto Rico. She supported a congressional bill which aimed to have the United States federal government pay off Puerto Rico’s debt on the grounds that allegedly malicious private actors lent money to the Puerto Rico government they knew could not possibly be paid back. ¹⁷ Archila has accused the American federal government of ignoring Puerto Rico’s interests because its population lacks voting representation in Congress. ¹⁸

Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearings

In 2018, then-President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Shortly before the vote on his confirmation, Kavanaugh was accused of past sexual misconduct, leading to one of the most contentious confirmation hearings in American history. Ana Maria Archila emerged as an outspoken opponent of Justice Kavanagh, supporting Christine Blasey Ford’s unsubstantiated claims that he assaulted her while in high school. ³ Archila claimed that confirming Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court would be “a grave threat to the rights of women, LGBTQ families, workers, communities of color and our democracy.” ¹⁹

In September 2018, Archila and other protestors stood outside the office of then-U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), one of the undecided Republican Senators who would vote on whether to move Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination out of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to the U.S. Senate for a full vote. Archila and others shouted stories of their own sexual abuse in an attempt to pressure Sen. Flake to vote against Justice Kavanaugh. ²⁰

On September 28, Senator Flake voted to move Justice Kavanaugh’s nomination out of committee to a full vote by the U.S. Senate. As he entered an elevator in the U.S. Senate Office Building, Archila and anti-Kavanaugh protestor Maria Gallagher confronted Sen. Flake about his vote and refused to let him leave for four minutes while they shouted at him. The encounter was broadcast live on CNN. ³ Though Sen. Flake did not change his mind on the vote, he did call for additional FBI background investigations into the accusations against Justice Kavanaugh. ²⁰

Tara Reade Accusations against President Biden

In March 2020, Tara Reade, a former staffer of President Joe Biden during his time in the U.S. Senate, accused then-presidential candidate Biden of sexual assault. Given the fame garnered by the elevator incident during Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, Archila issued a public statement about how the accusations impacted her support for President Biden. Though Archila did not state whether she believed President Biden was guilty, she condemned his response to the accusations as dismissive of sexual assault survivors. However, Archila maintained that she still supported President Biden’s candidacy because “President Trump’s racism and xenophobia has caused serious harm to millions of people, and his administration’s inept handling of the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in the deaths of thousands.” ¹⁹

Archila claimed that Democrats needed to “do something that might feel morally incoherent,” voting for President Biden in “order to protect [themselves]” despite his being accused of sexual assault. ²¹

Mamdani Administration

In February 2026, Archila was appointed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) to serve as Commissioner for International Affairs within his administration and was expected to step down from her position with the Working Families Party, leaving Jasmine Gripper as the sole director of WFP. ⁶ Politico described the appointment as a “reward” for the WFP’s support during his election and further reported that while Archila “does not have experience in diplomacy … she’ll act as the city government’s top liaison to the diplomatic community, including the United Nations and the hundreds of foreign consulates located in New York City.” ⁸

Some critics in early 2026 predicted that, as New York City International Affairs Commissioner, Archila would reverse economic partnerships with Israel, as she has draw scrutiny for her lack of diplomatic experience and history of anti-Israel activism. ¹⁴