New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is firing back hard after President Donald Trump threatened to deport him.
Speaking from Florida on Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Mamdani could face arrest over his public stand against ICE raids. “Well, then we’ll have to arrest him,” Trump said when asked about Mamdani’s promise to resist federal immigration crackdowns. “We don’t need a communist in this country… ideally he’s going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now he’s a communist.”
Trump didn’t stop there. “A lot of people are saying he is here illegally,” the president claimed, without evidence. “We’re going to look at everything.”
Mamdani, 33, didn’t hold back in response.
“The president of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.”
He added: “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. We will not accept this intimidation.”
Mamdani, born in Uganda to Indian parents, became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He’s been representing Queens in the New York State Assembly since 2021. Last week, he shocked political watchers by beating Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary.
Since then, the attacks have only intensified. Trump labeled Mamdani “a 100% Communist Lunatic” on Truth Social and told Fox News: “If he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money.”
Mamdani hit back on NBC’s Meet the Press: “I have already had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am… because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for.”
He continued: “I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul quickly came to Mamdani’s defense, posting on X: “I don’t care if you’re the President of the United States, if you threaten to unlawfully go after one of our neighbors, you’re picking a fight with 20 million New Yorkers – starting with me.”
Trump also went after Elon Musk the same day, saying he would “look into” the billionaire’s citizenship after the two fell out politically.
Back in New York, Mamdani is expected to face Mayor Eric Adams—running as an independent—and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a three-way race this November. Adams, who has tried to distance himself from Mamdani’s progressive agenda, mocked him earlier by saying he was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth.”
Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles joined the pile-on, posting: “Bye bye, little muhammad! If you lied on your N-400 naturalization forms, you’re going home.”
But Mamdani isn’t backing down.
“At the very moment when MAGA Republicans are attempting to destroy the social safety net, kick millions of New Yorkers off of healthcare and enrich their billionaire donors at the expense of working families,” he said, “it is a scandal that Eric Adams echoes this president’s division, distraction and hate. Voters will resoundingly reject it in November.”
