After he was elected as mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist, has faced stiff opposition, including threats of deportation from GOP lawmakers like Reps. Andy Ogles and Randy Fine. Justifying their position, the two congressmen alleged that Mamdani lied about DSA membership as well as his association with terrorist groups in his immigration documents, thus breaking the law. Firing back, Mandai called the suggestions Islamophobic.
The argument that Mamdani should be deported for immigration fraud comes alongside claims that he and his campaign committed campaign finance fraud by knowingly accepting donations from foreign sources, which is illegal under America’s election laws. The criminal referral requesting he be charged in relation to that crime came just before the election.
In any case, Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) made his case for deporting Mamdani in a press release promulgated by his office on October 29. In it, he noted, “If Mamdani lied on his naturalisation documents, he doesn’t get to be a citizen, and he certainly doesn’t get to run for mayor of New York City.”
Building on this point, Rep. Ogles continued to take down the woke, “communist” new mayor of NYC in terrific and unrepentant fashion. “A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology,” Rep. Ogles said.
Adding to these comments, Rep. Fine, a Republican from Florida, blasted the controversial Democrat as having clearly violated American law by not revealing his communist connections. “The American naturalisation system REQUIRES any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I’m doubtful he disclosed them. If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda,” he noted.
Keeping up the pressure, the congressman added to these comments during an October 27 appearance on Newsmax. “The barbarians are no longer at the gate, they’re inside. … And Mamdani, having just moved here eight years ago, is a great example of that, becoming a citizen. Look, it is clear with much of what I have read that he did not meet the definition to gain citizenship,” he said.
In another incident, Rep. Fine joked, just days before the New York City mayoral election that Mamdani won, “The only thing Zohran Mamdani should be running for is his gate at JFK airport on his deportation flight.” Watch him crack that joke here:
"*" indicates required fields
However, experts were unconvinced that Madani would be deported. Immigration lawyer Jeremy McKinney argued, “Denaturalisation is an extreme, rare remedy that requires the government to prove either illegal procurement or a willful, material lie – at a minimum, clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence that the fact would have changed the outcome at the time of naturalisation.”
Adding to this point, he noted, “I’ve seen no credible proof he was ineligible when he took the oath or that any omission was material. DSA membership isn’t a bar to citizenship; failing to list a lawful political group on the [naturalisation form] doesn’t become fraud unless disclosure would have led to a denial.”
Offering another example to support his assertion, the lawyer said, “A lyric referencing the Holy Land Five is protected speech absent actual material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.”
Still not done, the biased official claimed, “It is ‘extraordinarily unlikely that a proceeding against Mamdani would gain any traction’,” he said. “The bigger risk… is the potential chilling effect on individuals with fewer resources who might be afraid to speak out against the government.”
Unsurprisingly, Mamdani fell back on tired woke talking points to excuse his poor behavior. “I think Islamophobia is something that is endemic to politics across this country,” the woke mayor told MSNBC. “And we have seen it normalised. … And so much of this is driven from an unwillingness to recognise that Muslims belong here in the city.”