November 10, 2025 | 07:29 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Zohran Mamdani recently made history by becoming the first mayor of New York City with a Muslim and South Asian background to be elected. However, the landslide victory of the 34-year-old politician is immediately met with a wave of accusations from the Republican Party. Several party figures are alleging that Mamdani is unfit for office due to doubts about his citizenship status.
Political Pressure Following the Victory
Some members of the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., have called for an investigation into Zohran Mamdani's naturalization process. They even demand the revocation of Mamdani's citizenship and his deportation, accusing him of supporting communism and terrorist activities.
President Donald Trump had previously threatened to withhold federal funds for New York City if Mamdani won, also labeling him as a communist. "A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology," said Republican Congressman Andy Ogles in a press release on October 29, as quoted by Al Jazeera. He also urged the U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to investigate Mamdani. "If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda," Ogles said.
Randy Fine, a Congressman from Florida, stated in an interview with Newsmax on October 27, "The barbarians are no longer at the gate, they’re inside. … And Mamdani, having just moved here eight years ago, is a great example of that," Fine said. However, PolitiFact's fact-check found no evidence to suggest that Mamdani lied in his citizenship application.
Background and Naturalization Process
Zohran Mamdani was born in Uganda and moved to the United States in 1998 when he was seven years old. He became a U.S. citizen in 2018. According to immigration law, individuals must typically reside continuously in the U.S. as lawful permanent residents for either five or three years to obtain citizenship.
The process of revoking citizenship in America, or denaturalization, can only be done through a court order and has been historically limited, for example, against former Nazis or individuals proven to be involved in terrorism.
Rap Lyrics and Membership in DSA
The questioning of Mamdani's citizenship began last summer when he ran for mayor as a Democratic Party candidate. In a letter to the Department of Justice in June, Ogles called for an investigation, alleging that Mamdani may have obtained U.S. citizenship through falsehoods or by concealing support for terrorism.
Ogles referenced rap lyrics written by Mamdani in 2017, mentioning the "Holy Land Five," five leaders of a Muslim charity foundation who were convicted in 2008 for supporting Hamas. Ogles and Fine also accused Mamdani of not disclosing his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in his naturalization application. They claimed that the organization is communist and could potentially disqualify Mamdani from citizenship. However, according to PolitiFact, the naturalization form only inquires about involvement in a communist or totalitarian party.
Harvey Klehr, an expert on American communist history from Emory University, explained that DSA is not a communist party. "Democratic socialists reject hostility to representative democracy and rejection of state ownership of the means of production," Klehr told PolitiFact.
Attack Under the Guise of the 14th Amendment
As reported by The New York Post, the New York Young Republican Club is now pursuing a different route, citing the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The amendment prohibits anyone who "engaged in rebellion" or provided "aid and comfort to the enemies" from holding office. They accused Mamdani of giving support to enemies through sympathizing with pro-Hamas groups and his stance calling for resistance against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
However, immigration experts interviewed by PolitiFact asserted that calls to oppose ICE policies do not constitute a violation of the 14th Amendment, as the clause applies to acts of rebellion and aiding enemy forces, not criticism of domestic policy.
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