Mamdani braced for US reentry confrontation after deportation calls from GOP

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s campaign prepared for possible trouble at John F. Kennedy airport as he returned Wednesday from a vacation in Uganda.

What happened: Mamdani left for Uganda on July 20 to celebrate his recent marriage to Rama Duwaji with family. He returned Wednesday morning, and amid concerns over potential issues, passed through the U.S. Customs without incident.

“I did not have issues getting through customs, though I was prepared for the potential of those issues,” he told reporters. “This is a sad reality of living in our president’s United States.” The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman, who calls himself a democratic socialist, has lived in the U.S. since age 7 and became a citizen in 2018.

How they prepared: Mamdani’s campaign reportedly stayed in touch with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Atty. Gen. Letitia James’ offices, which both pledged assistance in the event immigration officials detained Mamdani.

These precautions follow attacks from Republican officials such as Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, who argued on social media that he “needs to be DEPORTED” while calling him “little muhammad [sic].” President Donald Trump, for his part, has not explicitly called for Mamdani’s deportation but has made statements casting doubt on his citizenship. “A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally. We’re going to look at everything,” Trump told reporters on July 1.

Why this matters: Mamdani’s absence came amid New York’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years that killed four victims Monday, including NYPD officer and fellow Muslim Didarul Islam. His adviser, Morris Katz, reportedly woke him at 4 a.m. in Uganda to alert him of the incident.

Speaking to CNN, Mamdani said he went directly from Kennedy airport to Islam’s home in Parkchester, where his family “refused to let me leave until I had breakfast with them.” At Wednesday’s press conference with Smith Etienne, brother of security guard Aland Etienne — another shooting victim — and union leaders, scrutiny intensified over Mamdani’s past statements on defunding the police, including “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.” He has also defended eliminating the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which responded to Monday’s shooting.

Despite the controversy, Mamdani maintains his lead in recent polls, including 50% support in a Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions poll released this week.