New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and Muslim, is getting roasted on both sides for publishing a post about “halalflation” of the Big Apple’s street vendors by announcing he would be approving 10,500 new street vendor licenses. Mamdani posted the message on his social media accounts where he called the large number of street vendor licenses a “Halalflation update.”
He also bragged about the 1,800 new licenses he approved specifically for Muslim food vendors. Many conservative pundits and Republican voters believe the mayor is showing favoritism toward those of his own religion and using his political power to benefit those who share his faith. In one such reaction, an X user by the name of Paul Szypula blasted the Muslim mayor for using his political office to show favoritism for his own peoples despite “treating every complaint about religious preference in city policy as bigotry” when it favors someone else.
Szypula piggybacked off the journalism of other independent journalists who accused the mayor of trying to force the practice of halal food preparation on the rest of the city. At issue, again, was the reduction of red tape to try making halal food options less expensive for the predominantly Muslim vendors, who previously told Mamdani it cost them, in some cases, over $20,000 to get a food permit. He bragged about getting the cost down from $10 a plate to $8.
According to a report from Breitbart News, street vending is one of the ways that illegal aliens are able to make money in New York City, not to mention it provides a path for migrants to skirt around paying property and business taxes that other brick and mortar businesses are required by law to pay. It didn’t take long for criticisms to start getting tossed in Mamdani’s direction.
Not long after he started getting shredded, Mamdani yanked the original post down. “On Wednesday the post was gone from his official mayoral account. No explanation. Mamdani used his office to push a religious framing for street food licensing, then deleted the evidence once it drew pushback. That isn’t neutral administration. It’s a mayor using public platforms and city process to signal favoritism toward one group’s food standards,” Szypula wrote on X.
“This is who Mamdani is. He tries to keep the mask on, but his brashness keeps showing. He campaigned on “make halal $8 again” and now he’s governing with the same language. Democrat politicians don’t care. They treat every complaint about religious preference in city policy as bigotry instead of a basic equal-protection problem. New Yorkers who sell hot dogs, pretzels, or anything that isn’t Halal get the message,” he continued.
Watch this 2025 ad featuring Mamdani touring New York City and interviewing halal street food vendors below:
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For those who aren’t aware, halal refers to the controversial handling of meat in the Islamic religion. It translates to “permissible” or “lawful” in sharia law and part of it pertains to how animals are slaughtered to conform to the religious practice. Animals are required to be killed by a Muslim cleric or representative who has been appointed for the job.
The animal must then have its throat slit and the blood allowed to drain from the wound. It is also exempted from some regulations that are part of American food safety procedures. Lots of folks had strong opinions about all of the halal stuff promoted by Mamdani, and much of it was not in favor of the alleged favoring of Muslim businesses.