On Tuesday (July 2), hours after being declared the official Democratic candidate to run for mayor of New York Metropolis, state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was attacked by President Donald Trump who threatened to arrest him if he interfered with immigration officers if elected mayor. He additionally made the outlandish false declare that Mamdani is an unlawful immigrant, and said that his administration would “take a look at every little thing.” Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, turned a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.
Trump made the feedback in response to a query posed to him at an unrelated press convention held after he visited a migrant jail facility within the Everglades in Florida, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” When requested what he would do if Mamdani adopted by on a previous pledge to not cooperate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and their arrests if elected mayor, Trump replied, “Properly, then we’ll need to arrest him. Look, we don’t want a communist on this nation, but when now we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very fastidiously on behalf of the nation.”
Trump then added, “Lots of people are saying he’s right here illegally. We’re gonna take a look at every little thing,” repeating a false declare which was first raised by Metropolis Councilmember Vickie Paladino final month in a publish on X, previously Twitter, by which she known as for Mamdani to be deported. That has been echoed by a number of right-wing figures inside the previous few weeks, together with Tennessee Consultant Andy Ogles who additionally known as for the 33-year-old politician to be deported, utilizing Islamophobic slurs.
It’s a well-known line of assault for Trump to advertise far-right conspiracy theories about his political foes. He rose to prominence within the Republican Celebration by parroting the lie that former President Barack Obama wasn’t official as a result of he wasn’t born in america forward of his 2016 presidential marketing campaign. He additionally brazenly questioned former Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris’ identification as a Black girl and attacked GOP rival Nikki Haley within the 2024 Republican major, claiming she wasn’t eligible attributable to her Indian heritage.
Mamdani issued a rebuttal in a publish on X, previously Twitter, in a while Tuesday, dismissing Trump’s assaults. “The president of america simply threatened to have me arrested,” he wrote, including: “We is not going to settle for this intimidation.” He additionally famous Trump’s praising of Mayor Adams as “unsurprising,” writing that it “is a scandal that Eric Adams echoes this President’s division, distraction, and hate.”
