Washington: Indian-origin Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani has strongly pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s threats to have him arrested, calling it an attempt to silence those standing up to injustice. Mamdani, who officially became the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor on Tuesday, now heads into the November general election as a progressive challenger.
Trump, reacting to Mamdani’s nomination, called him a “communist” and a “lunatic,” questioning the legality of his citizenship and threatening arrest if Mamdani obstructs federal immigration enforcement (ICE) in New York. “We’ll just have to arrest him,” Trump said, alleging Mamdani is “a pure communist” and suggesting he is “here illegally.”
In a defiant response, Mamdani said:
“The President just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, and deported — not because I’ve broken any law, but because I refuse to let ICE terrorize our city. I won’t accept this intimidation.”
Mamdani warned that Trump’s remarks were not only an attack on him personally but a signal to all New Yorkers who oppose authoritarianism. He criticized Trump for praising current mayor Eric Adams, saying it highlights “the urgency of ending this mayor’s term in office.” Adams, originally elected as a Democrat, is now running as an independent.
Polling shows Mamdani ahead of both Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race. He has accused Adams of quietly enabling Trump’s immigration raids in exchange for leniency in federal corruption investigations.
A 33-year-old son of South Asian parents born in Uganda, Mamdani came to the US in 1998 and became a citizen in 2018. He’s known for his sharp use of social media and grassroots outreach in immigrant and working-class neighborhoods, helping him reclaim support for Democrats in areas where Trump performed unexpectedly well in 2024.
“We shocked the establishment and redrew the political map,” Mamdani said in a campaign video posted Tuesday. “We can win back voters many have written off — if we give them something real to vote for.”
Several Republican figures are now calling for an investigation into Mamdani’s citizenship status. If elected, he would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor.