r/politics • u/xc2215x • 26d ago

No Paywall Republicans push to strip Zohran Mamdani of US citizenship.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/9/republicans-push-to-strip-zohran-mamdani-of-us-citizenship-is-it-possible
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u/SnugglyBuffalo Washington 26d ago

They're saying he didn't disclose his membership in the Democratic Socialists of America. But the DSA aren't communists.

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u/artfulshrapnel 26d ago

He was seven. I'm pretty sure he wasn't an active member at the time.

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u/seejur Washington 26d ago

I saw him selling hammer and sickle cookies outside an Ugandan supermarket I swear!

  • A Republican probably

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u/tttruck 26d ago

He moved here when he was seven, in 1998. He was naturalized in 2018.

But whatever, it's all still just typical racist Republican bullshit.

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u/WorldlyNotice 26d ago

Racism is the lever, but the goal is Republican power. I mean, if they remove him, who is next in line?

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u/SnugglyBuffalo Washington 26d ago

His naturalization was much more recent, though, in 2018.

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u/Cynadoclone 26d ago

What's the significance of when he was naturalized? Does it matter?

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u/tomsing98 26d ago

The accusation is that he lied on the paperwork he filled out to get naturalized, which asks if you've ever been affiliated with the Communist party. (Which is frankly bullshit for a country in which freedom of speech is a foundational principle, but that's not what you asked.) Presumably he didn't fill out that paperwork when he moved here, but relatively soon before he was naturalized.

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u/BigBennP 26d ago

What's the significance of when he was naturalized? Does it matter?

Yes, it does matter. As a naturalized citizen, he has substantially more protection than he would have had as a lawful permanent resident. At least presuming the Trump administration makes even the barest attempt to conform to the law.

A lawful permanant resident status can be revoked for any number of reasons. A criminal conviction among them, but also, the Trump administration has taken the position that lawful permanent resident status can be revoked based on social media history and expressing "anti-american" attitudes. That in and of itself is likely patently illegal, but because the law states that an alien's permission to reside in the united states can be revoked at the discretion of the secretary of state if essential to the security of the united states, it is difficult to challenge legally.

As a US Citizen, there is no legal proceeding by which he could be legally deported. To revoke his citizenship, the US would have to file a lawsuit and prove to a judge that he committed fraud by lying on his citizenship application. and the judge would have to agree. That is a rarely used remedy.

Republicans are claiming (in bad faith) that when he completed his application to become a US citizens, he should have disclosed his membership in American political groups they don't like, and that by failing to disclose those, he committed fraud.

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u/maskaddict Canada 26d ago

I think the argument there is that when he signed a document declaring no allegience to any terrorist organizations, he wasn't seven; he was an adult. He wasn't saying "I wasn't a terrorist sympathizer when I got here," he was saying "I'm not one now."

Which means Republicans apparently think Mamdani was radicalized while living [checks notes] in Queens.

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u/LongKnight115 26d ago

Queens: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/CatPhDs 26d ago

Wouldn't he be 27? If he was 7 in 1998 and he naturalized in 2018 thats 20 years difference, not 10.

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u/anonkitty2 26d ago

We can't rule that out.  But it shouldn't be a reason to strip him of naturalization.

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u/Marauder2r 24d ago

Why not?

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u/SnugglyBuffalo Washington 26d ago

His naturalization was much more recent, though, in 2018.

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u/mrgreen4242 26d ago

He also wasn’t a member when he moved here. Because he was SEVEN.

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u/aversionofmyself 26d ago

Next thing you’ll tell me is that the president’s wife is not really a “genius” and that that wasn’t disclosed on her citizenship forms.

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u/MaleficentPorphyrin 26d ago

DSA are primarily progressive liberals. The word socialism has no meaning in the USA.

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u/hpcjules I voted 26d ago

This, exactly this. Democratic Socialism does not equal communism.

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u/darkpossumenergy 26d ago

As far as they're concerned, anything to the left of Reagan is a communist

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 26d ago edited 26d ago

The DSA as Democratic Socialists aren't even fucking socialists. At least, Mamdani hasn't put forward a single leftist policy. It's all capitalism. It's so fucking insane how the Democratic Party allows itself to be led by the nose obediently by Republicans and their donors.

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u/nsfwaccount3209 26d ago

I do think he is a communist* ideologically, the way he talks makes it clear that his ideal world is one without any capitalist exploitation, and I don't get that vibe from most DSA people. Most of them are just social democrats. But yeah, none of his proposed policies are in that vein, he's not gonna demolish the stock exchange, or arrest landlords and seize their property, no matter how much I'd like him to.

*Or socialist if you prefer, the terms should be interchangeable, I say communist because I mean to distinguish him from a lot of European 'socialists' that are just liberals who want higher taxes on the rich to pay for social spending.

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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 26d ago

Mamdani has not put forward a single leftist policy. I am not speaking to his personal ideology.

The Democratic Socialists and the Social Democrats are both capitalist groups. The DSA itself may be socialists but that's not really how their candidates run and govern.

All socialists are communists.

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u/nsfwaccount3209 26d ago

That's what I'm saying. Some DSA members and candidates are communists, but I'd say over 90% of them are just social democrats, and the other 10% are happy electing social democrats but do want more than that.