Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles has joined the right-wing outrage over Zohran Mamdani‘s impending victory in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary by demanding his deportation.
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Ogles cited a New York Post article about how Mamdani, in a 2017 rap song, praised the “Holy Land Five,” members of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a now-defunct Muslim charity. Its five founders were convicted of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas in a 2008 trial—one which Human Rights Watch and some civil rights attorneys and law professors called unjust.
“Publicly praising the Foundation’s convicted leadership as ‘my guys’ raises serious concerns about whether Mr. Mamdani held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process,” Ogles wrote.
“While I understand that some may raise First Amendment concerns about taking legal action based on expressive conduct, such as rap lyrics, speech alone does not preclude accountability where it reasonably suggests underlying conduct relevant to eligibility for naturalization,” Ogles continued.
“If an individual publicly glorifies a group convicted of financing terrorism, it is entirely appropriate for federal authorities to inquire whether that individual engaged in non-public forms of support—such as organizational affiliation, fundraising, or advocacy—that would have required disclosure on Form N-400 or during a naturalization interview,” Ogles claimed.
In a social media post accompanying his letter, Ogles referred to Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor, as “little muhammad.”
“He needs to be DEPORTED,” Ogles fumed. “Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings.”
Mamdani’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Mamdani was born in Uganda and lived in South Africa for a few years before moving to New York when he was 7 years old. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018, two years before he was elected to the New York State Assembly, in which he represents part of Queens.
As Mamdani’s campaign gained steam over the last month, he had to confront other Republicans pushing for his deportation.
“Death threats. Islamophobic bigotry. Now a sitting council member calling for my deportation. Enough,” Mamdani responded on X after a councilwoman from Queens attacked him. “This is what Trump and his sycophants have wrought.”
Ogles, a pro-Trump congressman who introduced legislation allowing the president to run for and serve a third term—and once stirred controversy with a Christmas card family photo in which his two young children are holding guns—wasn’t the only GOP member of Congress to weigh in critically.
On Thursday, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace posted a poll on X asking if Mamdani should be denaturalized and deported.
As for whether he could be: the denaturalization process requires that the government prove in court that an individual obtained their citizenship through fraud or through deception, though what exactly that means is unclear and could vary by case.
If denaturalized, the individual reverts to being a lawful permanent resident, making it much easier for them to be deported by the Trump administration, which has not been shy about clinging to any pretext it can to claim that some green card holders—especially those with pro-Palestine views like Mamdani—pose threats to national security.
