New York City mayoral candidate and state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani responded forcefully on Tuesday to comments from a Republican New York City councilmember, who the day prior took issue with Mamdani's politics and called for him to be deported.
Late Monday, New York City Councilmember Vickie Paladino, who represents a section of Queens, wrote from her nongovernmental X account: "Let's just talk about how insane it is to elect someone to any major office who hasn't even been a U.S. citizen for 10 years—much less a radical leftist who actually hates everything about the country and is here specifically to undermine everything we've ever been about."
Paladino ended the social media post with the word, "Deport."
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is a U.S. citizen. He was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. In 2018, he became naturalized as an American citizen. If elected, he would become New York City's first Muslim mayor.
Paladino made the comments in response to a 2019 post from Mamdani, in which he said he was excited to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who at that time was running in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. He had not been able to cast a ballot when Sanders ran in 2016 because he was not at that time a citizen, he said in the post.
"Death threats. Islamophobic bigotry. Now a sitting councilmember calling for my deportation. Enough. This is what [President Donald] Trump and his sycophants have wrought," wrote Mamdani on X in response to Paladino. "It's an assault on the values of our city and our Constitution. Will Cuomo condemn this or will that upset his MAGA donors?"
Former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is Mamdani's main opponent in the Democratic mayoral primary, which will take place on June 24. Cuomo has consistently been the clear front-runner in the contest, though a recent poll from from Emerson College Polling, PIX11, and The Hill showed Mamdani cutting into Cuomo's lead.
Cuomo did respond in a statement that was sent to The New York Times. "The Republican answer to everything, including the common cold, is deportation and it has to stop," he said.
Paladino, who is staunch supporter of Israel and has denounced pro-Palestine student activism, largely doubled down on her remarks on Tuesday. A statement put out by Paladino's office said that she "stands by" her statement, but acknowledged that Mamdani "has clearly achieved U.S. citizenship and thus is not eligible for deportation."
The statement brings up the fact that Mamdani helped found a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine while in college and says that her office has received threats from "Zohran's violent supporters."
Calling his agenda laced with "antisemitism, Marxism, and Anti-Americanism," Paladino said in the statement that "his candidacy and this incident underscore the need for the deportation efforts currently being undertaken by the Trump administration, particularly on our college campuses where these ideas metastasize, so that we can prevent any future Zohran's from taking root in America."