The President of the United States, Donald Trump, suggested on Tuesday that authorities “should arrest” Zohran Mamdani, the favorite Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, for his refusal to collaborate with federal immigrant raids.
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He also insinuated that Mamdani could be in the country irregularly, even though he has been a US citizen since 2018.
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“We will have to arrest him,” said Trump during a press conference held at the migrant detention center known as the ‘Alcatraz of the Alligators’ in Florida. “We don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I will watch him very closely for the good of the nation,” he added, in a comment that has been widely interpreted as a political threat.
In his response, Mamdani accused Trump of issuing an authoritarian warning not only against him, but against anyone who dares to challenge the federal government’s immigration agenda. “Not because I have broken the law, but because I refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,” the candidate wrote in a statement. “We will not accept this intimidation,” he added.
The 33-year-old Queens State Assemblyman was born in Uganda to Indian parents and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018. This Monday, he was officially recognized as the winner of the Democratic primaries, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo with 43.5% of the votes against 36.4%. His victory was considered a political surprise and consolidated the progress of the progressive wing of the party.
Mamdani, affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, has proposed a government plan focused on affordable housing, free transportation, and ending local cooperation with ICE. His campaign has received support from figures such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as from a large sector of the city’s young and urban electorate.
Trump also took the opportunity to praise the current mayor Eric Adams, who is seeking re-election as an independent candidate after distancing himself from the Democratic Party. “They had a good independent candidate, Mayor Adams, who is a very good person. I helped him a bit. He had a problem,” he said, referring to the corruption charges dismissed in April at the request of the Department of Justice.