Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, hit back at comments President Donald Trump has made threatening his arrest and endorsing scrutiny of his citizenship status.
“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy, but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: If you speak up, they will come for you,” Mamdani wrote in a Tuesday statement on X. “We will not accept this intimidation.”
Mamdani’s remarks come after Trump went on a tirade against the democratic socialist while appearing at a press briefing in South Florida, and after a right-wing Republican Congressman called for the New York lawmaker to be denaturalized because of an old rap lyric.
“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump baselessly said of Mamdani, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and therefore, is in the country legally. “We’re going to look at everything. And ideally, he’s going to turn out to be much less than a communist, but right now, he’s a communist.”
Trump also threatened Mamdani with arrest if he did not cooperate with Immigration Customs and Enforcement actions as New York City mayor.
Trump’s comments follow those of Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who has urged the Justice Department to initiate denaturalization proceedings against Mamdani over past rap lyrics that he claims signal support for terrorist organizations.
The White House has also declined to shut down Ogles’ request, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noting in a Monday Fox News interview that these claims “should be investigated” if they are true.
Xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani have surged after his stunning upset win against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s Democratic primary.
The broadsides against his immigration status in particular have coincided with Trump’s focus on ramping up deportations and as DOJ seeks to prioritize denaturalizations of U.S. citizens who commit certain crimes.
Trump and other administration officials, like border czar Tom Homan, have also increasingly threatened Democratic lawmakers with arrest for opposing immigration enforcement policies.