Republicans are calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to revoke Zohran Mamdani’s citizenship and deport him from the country as the likely Democratic nominee for New York City’s next mayor endures a torrent of Islamophobic bigotry. The 33-year-old democratic socialist declared victory in the primary after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race on Tuesday evening. The New York Young Republican Club reacted to the primary results with a “call to action” on X. “The radical Zohran Mamdani cannot be allowed to destroy our beloved city of New York,” the group wrote. The group urged the president to invoke the Red Scare-era Communist Control Act to yank Mamdani’s citizenship and “promptly deport him.”
The club called on White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Trump border czar Tom Homan to take action. “The time for action is now,” the group wrote. “New York is counting on you.” Following Mamdani’s victory, Miller claimed New York City is the “clearest warning yet of what happens to a society when it fails to control migration.” “The entire Democrat party is lining up behind the diehard socialist who wants to end all immigration enforcement and abolish the prison system entirely,” he added. Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee referred to Mamdani as “little Muhammad” and said he’s “an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York.”
“He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings,” he added. Mamdani, who could become the city’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor, won one of the first major Democratic primaries since the start of Trump’s second stint in the White House. His platform has largely focused on a growing affordability crisis, with plans for universal childcare, free buses, and a freeze on rent increases in rent-controlled units.
The administration claims Mamdani’s victory is the result of uncontrolled immigration as it pushes a mass deportation agenda. The NYYRC, founded in 1911, is a political and social club for New York Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40. Mamdani, born in Uganda in 1991, moved to New York along with his family at the age of seven in 1998 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen two decades later in 2018. The Communist Control Act was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954 during the Cold War. The legislation outlawed, in theory, the Communist Party in the United States and prohibited communists from attaining certain positions. But it was rarely enforced and faced a litany of legal challenges as a relic of the McCarthyism era.
Mamdani’s victory had some prominent Republicans cheering on the return of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Un-American Activities Committee. “New York City is on the verge of electing a socialist for mayor,” Sen. Mike Collins wrote. “Might be time to bring back the committee.” Trump also slammed Mamdani on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling him a “Communist Lunatic.” Incumbent New York Mayor Eric Adams is set to run as an independent in November’s general election after he faced corruption charges, which the Department of Justice subsequently dropped. Adams, who has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing, has faced accusations from Democrats of a quid pro quo with the Trump administration to facilitate its immigration agenda.
The group Republicans for Renewal responded to NYYRC’s “call to action,” saying that “communist radical Zohran Mamdani should be remigrated as soon as possible.” Republican New York councilwoman Vickie Paladini wrote on June 2 that it would be “insane” for voters to elect someone who hasn’t been a citizen for more than 10 years, “much less a radical leftist who actually hates everything about the country and is here specifically to undermine everything we've ever been about. “Deport,” she said.
A spokesperson for the councilwoman subsequently added that she “stands by this statement” and accused the state assemblyman of being eligible for removal from the country “due to his involvement in multiple antisemitic and far-left organizations in college,” according to Newsweek. Mamdani has repeatedly rejected allegations of antisemitism against him and has denounced rising acts of antisemitic abuse. He struck back at Paladino, writing that like nearly 40 percent of New Yorkers, “I wasn’t born in this country.” “I moved here at age 7. It's my home. And I’m proud to be a citizen, which means standing up for our Constitution,” he added. “Councilmember Paladino might consider reading it.”
