Don’t need Communist in US, Trump threatens to arrest Mamdani

US President Donald Trump threatened during a press conference on Tuesday to arrest New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani should he win the mayoral elections in November, hours after his victory in the primaries was formally confirmed. The president, who was speaking at an immigration roundtable at a new Florida detention facility, also repeated an unfounded claim that Mamdani entered the US illegally and voiced support for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is seeking reelection. Asked about Mamdani’s plan to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in New York City, Trump said that if this happened, the US administration would “have to arrest him.” “We’ll have to arrest him,” Trump said. “We don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”

Mamdani earlier said that the immigrant raids were “terrorizing people,” and that agents who carry them out have no interest in following the law. Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents and became a US citizen in 2018.In a response to what he called US President Donald Trump's threat to have him arrested, stripped of citizenship, put in detention camp and deported, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said the remarks not only present an attack on country's democracy but are an attempt to “send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hid in the shadows”. Zohran Mamdani said Donald Trump's 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.” We will not accept this intimidation, he added.