Zohran Mamdani faces deportation threat from Donald Trump (Page 1 ) | November 15, 2025

Zohran Mamdani faces deportation threat from Donald Trump.
Just days after making history as New York City’s first Muslim mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani now finds himself at the center of a political firestorm: the President of the United States is openly threatening to revoke his citizenship.

On Nov. 4, the 34-year-old Mamdani delivered a decisive victory, defeating Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa by a commanding margin. When he is sworn in on January 1, 2026, he will become the first Muslim, first South Asian, first African-born, and first Millennial mayor in the city’s history — a milestone that many believed was years, if not decades, away.

“The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate,” Mamdani remarked to a roaring crowd gathered at Brooklyn Paramount for his election night celebration. “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this.”

The crowd erupted as he continued, “New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change.”

That mandate came after a grassroots-driven campaign that centered squarely on New York’s affordability crisis — a defining issue for millions of residents. Mamdani ran on an unapologetically progressive platform featuring proposals such as free public bus service, universal childcare, and a freeze on stabilized rents. Despite facing well-funded rivals with deep institutional backing, his victory stunned national political observers.

But Mamdani’s path to City Hall began far from New York’s five boroughs.

Became citizen in 2018
Born in Uganda, he arrived in the United States in 1998 at just seven years old. After years of living as a lawful permanent resident, he became a U.S. citizen in 2018 — a milestone that opened the door for his eventual political career.

Now, as the assemblyman prepares to assume the city’s highest office, his historic win has triggered fierce blowback — not only from critics but from some of the most powerful figures in conservative politics, including President Donald Trump.

ICE, threats, and retaliation
The attacks on Mamdani didn’t begin with his election. They had already intensified months earlier.

Back in June 2025, during his primary victory speech, Mamdani vowed to “stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.” The declaration quickly went national — and drew a swift response from Trump, who, according to ABC News, fired back with a chilling retort: “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him.”

The President, who at the time derided the mayor-elect as a “nut job,” also amplified false claims that Mamdani was in the country illegally.

“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump said. “We’re going to look at everything. Ideally, he’s going to turn out to be much less than a communist. But right now, he’s a communist. That’s not a socialist.”

‘Will not accept this intimidation’
Mamdani wasted no time responding. Posting on X, he wrote: “The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.”

The statement continued with a broader warning: “His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you.

“We will not accept this intimidation,” he added in the July 1 post.

‘Going to have problems with Washington’
As Election Day drew closer, Trump escalated his rhetoric even further. On Truth Social, he labeled Mamdani a “self-proclaimed New York City Communist” and insisted that his candidacy would ultimately benefit Republicans.

“Self-proclaimed New York City Communist, Zohran Mamdani, who is running for Mayor, will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” Trump wrote, according to CNBC. “He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City.”

“Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his fake communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it,” Trump declared in a blistering tirade aimed at Mamdani — who, notably, identifies as a democratic socialist, not a communist.

Deportation threats and far-right fury
But the attacks did not end there. Within the Republican Party, some figures quickly veered into even darker territory.

On Oct. 29, Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles issued a news release demanding that Mamdani be investigated and stripped of his U.S. citizenship. Ogles accused the mayor-elect — without providing evidence — of lying on his naturalization application and affiliating with “communist” and “terroristic” ideologies.

“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,” Ogles wrote.

He continued with even more incendiary rhetoric: “A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology. The American naturalization 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.”

Ogles’ attacks on the mayor-elect have shown no signs of slowing. But legal experts quickly pushed back. As PolitiFact reported, there is “no credible evidence that Mamdani lied on his citizenship application,” and “denaturalization, the process of revoking a person’s citizenship, can be done only by judicial order.”

In short, partisan outrage alone cannot undo a person’s citizenship.

‘Get through all of us’
As Mamdani prepares to enter City Hall, it is already clear that his tenure will not begin with a political honeymoon. Instead, he faces mounting threats, intensified media scrutiny, and escalating fury from the right. Still, if his posture throughout the campaign is any indication, he has no plans to retreat.

“To get to any of us,” Mamdani told supporters on election night, “you will have to get through all of us.”

What’s your take on the escalating clash between the president and Zohran Mamdani? Do you side with Trump or with Mamdani? Share your thoughts below — and pass this story along to help spark the conversation.