Some Republican lawmakers requested investigations into Mamdani\u2019s naturalization process and have called for stripping him of his U.S. citizenship and deporting him, accusing him without evidence of embracing communist and terrorist activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“If Mamdani lied on his naturalization documents, he doesn\u2019t get to be a citizen, and he certainly doesn\u2019t get to run for mayor of New York City. A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology,” Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said in an Oct. 29 press release<\/a> after asking U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Mamdani. “The American naturalization system REQUIRES any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I\u2019m doubtful he disclosed them. If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda.”<\/p>\n Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., misrepresented Mamdani\u2019s time in the U.S. when he said Oct. 27 on Newsmax,<\/a> “The barbarians are no longer at the gate, they\u2019re inside. \u2026 And Mamdani, having just moved here eight years ago, is a great example of that, becoming a citizen. Look, it is clear with much of what I have read that he did not meet the definition to gain citizenship.”<\/p>\n PolitiFact found no credible evidence that Mamdani lied on his citizenship application.\u00a0<\/p>\n Born in Uganda, Mamdani moved to the U.S. in 1998 when he was 7 and became a U.S. citizen in 2018. For adults to become U.S. citizens, they generally must<\/a> have lived continuously in the country as a lawful permanent resident for five years, or three years if married to a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n Denaturalization, the process of revoking a person\u2019s citizenship, can be done only by judicial order. It\u2019s been used sparingly, such as for removing Nazis who fled to the U.S. after World War II or people convicted of or associated with terrorism.<\/p>\n Immigration law experts said they have seen no evidence to support Ogles and Fine\u2019s assertions about Mamdani\u2019s application.<\/p>\n “Denaturalization is an extreme, rare remedy that requires the government to prove either illegal procurement or a willful, material lie \u2014 at a minimum, clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence that the fact would have changed the outcome at the time of naturalization,” said immigration lawyer Jeremy McKinney. “I\u2019ve seen no credible proof he was ineligible when he took the oath or that any omission was material.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Ogles and Fine did not respond to PolitiFact\u2019s requests for comment by publication.<\/p>\n Attacks on Mamdani\u2019s naturalization process are flimsy, immigration experts say<\/p>\n The push to question Mamdani\u2019s citizenship started in the<\/a> summer<\/a> when he became the Democratic mayoral nominee.<\/p>\n In a June letter<\/a> to Bondi, Ogles asked the Justice Department to pursue denaturalization proceedings against Mamdani, “on the grounds that he may have procured U.S. citizenship through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.”<\/p>\n Ogles cited rap lyrics Mamdani wrote in 2017 supporting the “Holy Land Five,” a reference to five men in the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim charity, convicted in 2008<\/a> of providing material support to the terrorist group Hamas. Some lawyers have criticized the case<\/a>\u2019s evidence and use of hearsay.<\/p>\n Ogles and Fine<\/a> said Mamdani did not disclose his Democratic Socialists of America membership on his citizenship application form; the lawmakers say it\u2019s a communist organization and Mamdani\u2019s involvement could have disqualified him from citizenship.\u00a0<\/p>\n The U.S. naturalization form<\/a> asks whether applicants have been a member, involved in or associated with any communist or totalitarian party. But the Democratic Socialists of America is not a communist party.<\/p>\n Democratic socialism emerged as an alternative to communism, Harvey Klehr, an Emory University expert on the history of American communism, previously told PolitiFact<\/a>. Democratic socialists\u2019 generally “reject the communist hostility to representative democracy, as well as the communist belief in state ownership of the means of production,” Klehr said.\u00a0<\/p>\n McKinney said, “DSA membership isn\u2019t a bar to citizenship; failing to list a lawful political group on the (naturalization form) doesn\u2019t become fraud unless disclosure would have led to a denial. A lyric referencing the Holy Land Five is protected speech absent actual material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.”<\/p>\n PolitiFact reached out to Mamdani for comment but did not hear back.<\/p>\n RELATED: NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is not a communist<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n A push to keep Mamdani from taking office<\/p>\n The New York Young Republican Club is taking a different tactic, citing the 14th Amendment, the New York Post reported. <\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Copy_of_Social_Media_1200x528_meter_2.png\"\/)
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