Democrats were quick to defend the party’s New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani this week after President Donald Trump threatened to arrest him over his campaign promises to enact sanctuary city policies.
The apparent support comes even as many have taken a wait-and-see approach to their endorsement for the self-described democratic socialist, including Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I don’t care if you’re the president of the United States, if you threaten to unlawfully go after one of our neighbors, you’re picking a fight with 20 million New Yorkers — starting with me,” Hochul said Tuesday.
New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary and has not yet waded into the general election fray, said it’s “disgraceful” that Trump can “causally threaten to arrest and deport a U.S. citizen who won a major-party nomination.”
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“Free societies do not arrest, deport, and otherwise weaponize government against their political opponents,” Torres wrote on X.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — who punted on the question of whether he would back Mamdani in November’s general election — told Trump to “stop lying” after the president suggested Mamdani is a “communist lunatic” who may be in the country illegally, despite the fact Mamdani is a U.S. citizen.
“He is neither a communist nor a lunatic. And New York City doesn’t need to be saved by a wannabe King,” Jeffries posted Wednesday on X. “Besides, you are too busy destroying America with your One Big Ugly Bill to do anything else.”
Mark Levine, the Manhattan borough president and Democratic nominee for New York City comptroller, said the president’s comments to Mamandi were “not normal.”
“This is not acceptable. These are the words of an unhinged would-be dictator. I condemn this unequivocally,” Levine posted on X. “The president of the United States is threatening arrest and deportation of an American citizen who just won the Democratic nomination for mayor of NYC.”
Levine, who won the primary for city comptroller, in an interview last week tentatively suggested he would get behind Mamdani, describing himself as “a Democrat who supports Democrats in general elections.” But in an interview with City & State he also suggested that he planned to “push back” against Mamdani “when necessary.”
The back-and-forth between New York politicians and the president began earlier this week when Trump said “we’ll have to arrest him” when presented with the possibility that Mamdani may defy Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations if elected as mayor.
“We’re going to be watching that very carefully and a lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump added. “We’re going to look at everything.”
Additionally, at a Department of Homeland Security meeting Wednesday, NOTUS revealed that Mamdani’s citizenship status was a leading topic of conversation.
“The Department of Homeland Security has authorities that have never been utilized before,” Secretary Kristi Noem told the group after a discussion of the New York City mayoral candidate.
In response to the president’s remarks, Mamdani said the threats of deportation amounted to intimidation.
“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you,” Mamdani posted on X.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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