New Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, condemned the threat by the United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, who said that he would arrest and deport him, calling it an attack on U.S. democracy, and promising that he would not accept such intimidation.
“The President of the U.S. just threatened to arrest me, strip me of my citizenship, put me in a detention camp, and deport me. Not because I broke any law, but because I will refuse to allow ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents) to terrorize our city,” wrote Zohran Mamdani on the social network X.
Mamdani said that the president’s statements represent not only an attack on democracy but also a warning to every New Yorker who refuses to stay silent.
“If you speak up, they will come for you. We will not accept this intimidation,” he said.
Mamdani has lived in the U.S. since the age of seven and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.
Earlier, Trump described Mamdani as a “complete lunatic.” During a roundtable on immigration policy in Florida, when asked about his response to Mamdani’s stance against ICE, Trump said that in that case, he has to arrest him.
Trump has long called for the arrest and imprisonment of his political opponents, from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to California Governor Gavin Newsom, often without stating what charges they might face.
Mamdani defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in last week’s Democratic primaries for the Democratic Party’s mayoral candidate, positioning him to become the first Muslim mayor of the Big Apple.
New York leans strongly Democratic, and Mamdani could face independent candidate Cuomo in the election race, as well as current mayor Eric Adams, a former Democrat who is running for re-election.
New York will elect its mayor in the November 4th elections.
Mamdani is a vocal supporter of Palestine and a critic of Israel. While he was in college, he co-founded a chapter of the organization Students for Justice in Palestine, and in 2023, he joined a hunger strike in front of the White House demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
