Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) to be denaturalized and deported after reports that one of Mamdani’s top officials tried to set up a meeting with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. Roy has already introduced legislation aimed at denaturalizing and deporting people he says are hostile to the United States.
Far-left sanctuary city Mayor Mamdani’s office admitted the meeting request happened, but said the meeting never took place and would not happen. Many conservatives, however, were upset by the very idea that it could have happened, and that a foreign-born mayor was trying to meet with an enemy power during a conflict.
The controversy centers on Ana María Archila, the commissioner in Mamdani’s Office for International Affairs. Archila reportedly made plans to meet with Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, before the State Department intervened and the meeting was canceled.
Mamdani later said he did not know about the meeting until his office received a press inquiry. He also said the commissioner recognized the meeting request was made in error and that his office was working on a new process for handling meeting requests.
A viral X post which was picked up and reposted by Roy featured Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussing Iran during a press availability with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Rubio was not talking specifically about Mamdani in the clip, but his comments laid out the Trump administration’s view of the Iranian regime and their proxies.
In the post, which Congressman Chip Roy reposted, indicating that it was accurate, Eric Daugherty wrote, “UPDATE: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) says Ugandan NYC Mayor Mamdani must be denaturalized and deported as soon as possible after Mamdani’s office organized a MEETING WITH IRAN, only to be SHUT DOWN by Marco Rubio’s State Department Mamdani’s people tried meeting with an ENEMY during HOT CONFLICT Deport him AND the foreigner staff member who set up this meeting directly, ASAP!”
Watch the viral X video reposted by Chip Roy here:
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Speaking in the video, Marco Rubio said, “On the other hand, Iran likes to sponsor proxy groups of terrorists, and these terrorists don’t care what they blow up; they blow up anything and everyone,” Rubio said. He continued, “Okay, this is who we’re dealing with. Okay, this is an Iran that not long ago, through their Hezbollah proxies, blew up a Jewish center in Argentina and killed a bunch of people.” Rubio then pointed to Iran’s role in roadside bombs, saying, “This is an Iran that innovated the use of roadside bombs that killed and maimed a bunch of people, including American servicemen, but a bunch of other people.”
Rubio also said Iran had organized assassinations and attempted assassinations “all over the world,” including against civilians and dissidents. “There is no nation on earth that sponsors more terrorism than Iran,” he said. He said Iran had spent “millions and millions of dollars sponsoring terrorism and targeting individuals all over the world.” Rubio said Iran had not spent that money on “building roads and bridges and improving the life of their people.”
Rubio continued, “they would rather invest in Hezbollah. They would rather invest in the rapists and the murderers of Hamas. They would rather invest in those groups than they do in their own people.” Rubio then turned his criticism toward the press, saying, “That’s what Iran invests in, and that’s what the world, that’s what you should be asking me about. That’s what the BBC should be covering, and that’s what these other media outlets should be covering: is how evil these people are in Iran and the damage they’ve done to people all over the world.”
Critics of Mamdani called for the use of The Logan Act after the story broke. The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 953, applies to a U.S. citizen who, “without authority of the United States,” directly or indirectly carries on correspondence or intercourse with a foreign government or its agents “with intent to influence” that government in relation to disputes or controversies with the United States. The law says a violation can be punished by a fine, imprisonment for not more than three years, or both. Mamdani has not been charged with a crime at the time of the writing of this article.
Roy has already introduced a bill named after Mamdani. His office announced the “Measures Against Marxism’s Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists Act,” or MAMDANI Act, in April. The press release said the bill would “deport, denaturalize, deny U.S. citizenship, or entry to any alien” who is a member of a socialist, communist, Chinese Communist, or Islamic fundamentalist party, or who advocates for socialism, communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism. Roy said in the release, “Why do we continue to import people who hate us?”
Roy continued in the statement by saying the immigration system had been used “to disadvantage American workers’ competitiveness in favor of mass-importing the third world.” He said the result had been “higher crime and lower wages,” along with “hostile ideologies fundamentally opposed to American values.” Roy added, “By targeting the Red-Green Alliance, this legislation deploys new tools to fight back against the Marxist and Islamist advance that has devastated Europe and has now arrived on our doorstep, especially in my home state of Texas.”