‘Will not accept intimidation’: Zohran Mamdani denounces Trump’s ‘arrest, deportation’ threat | World News

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for the upcoming New York City mayoral race, has refused to get “intimidated” and denounced US President Donald Trump’s threat to arrest and deport him over his pledge to fightback against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, calling the comments President Trump “an attack on democracy”.
Trump has threatened to arrest Mamdani if, as the mayor of New York City, he follows through his pledges to not ass customs officials enforcing immigration raids. “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him,” Trump said on Tuesday while visiting a detention centre in Florida. The Republican president said that he would “be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”

My statement on Donald Trump’s threat to deport me and his praise for Eric Adams, who the President “helped out” of legal accountability. https://t.co/m7pNcT2DFS pic.twitter.com/UcYakMx4lI
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) July 1, 2025
Mamdani, a member of the state assembly and who identifies as Democratic Social, surprised everyone last week with his victory over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary. After making headlines with his stunning political turnaround, Mamdani took potshots at the president saying he would be “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”

.@POTUS on Zohran Mamdani: “He’s a commun. I think it’s very bad for New York… but let’s say this: if he does get in, I’m going to be president and he’s going to have to do the right thing…” pic.twitter.com/YQaum1L9q5
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 29, 2025
Mamdani responded to Trump’s threat in a post on X and said that the president is threatening him despite the fact that not cooperating with ICE doesn’t violate any law. “There is no federal legal obligation for state and local jurisdictions to use their resources to help with immigration enforcement,” he said.

“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. We will not accept this intimidation,” the New York City mayoral candidate said.
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The Trump adminration’s mass deportation policy has sparked criticism and widespread protests over the raids conducted ICE recently, as president deployed National Guard in Los Angeles to help ICE conduct raids and suppress violent demonstrations.
However, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had said that deployment of National Guards exacerbated the tensions that led to violent protests across the city.