Amid Republicans’ call to deport Zohran Mamdani, the Socialist candidate who won the Democratic primary for the New York mayor election, Congressman Andy Ogles wrote to the Department of Justice seeking an investigation to be launched into Mamdani’s citizenship. The Republican leader doubled that Mamdani may have procured US citizenship through “wilful misrepresentation of concealment of material support for terrorism”. Indian-Ugandan-origin Zohran K Mamdani became a US Citizen in 2018, 20 years after he arrived in the country along with his parents. In 2020, he was first elected to the New York Assembly and has been holding public office since then, but his win in the primary has now led to a frenzy among Republicans. Citing Mamdani’s past career as a rapper, Ogles said he used words like “Free the Holy Land Five/My guys” in his rap, while The Holy Land Foundation was convicted in 2008 for supporting Hamas.“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 of naturalization,” he wrote. “If an individual publicly glorifies a group convicted of financing terrorism, it is entirely appropriate for federal authorities to inquire whether the individual engaged in non-public forms of support 00 such as organizational affiliation, fundraising, or advocacy — that would have required disclosure on Form N-400 or during a naturalization interview.”“The naturalization process depends on the good-faith disclosure of any affiliation with, or support for, groups that threaten US national security. If Mr Mamdani concealed relevant associations, that concealment may constitute a material misrepresentation sufficient to support denaturalization under federal law,” the Republican leader wrote. Naturalization is the legal process through which a non-citizen becomes a US citizen after being a permanent resident for at least five years on fulfilling certain criteria.
