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'Vicious Islamophobia': GOP Calls for Deportation of US Citizen Mamdani
Journalist Mehdi Hasan demanded "any leadership at all from the Democrats against brazen Islamophobia against their own presumptive mayoral candidate."
Jun 27, 2025
The victory of New York state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary this week quickly ushered in what one progressive media outlet called "mask-off racism and fascism" from several Republicans in Congress, with U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles going as far as making an official request to the Trump administration for "denaturalization proceedings" for the U.S. citizen.
Mamdani would be the first Muslim mayor of the nation's largest city if he wins the general election in November—a fact that appears to have enraged the Tennessee Republican, who wrote to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to call for a federal investigation into rap lyrics Mamdani wrote before he became a naturalized citizen and began his political career.
Ogles pointed to the lyrics, "Free the Holy Land Five / My guys"—a reference to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a major Muslim charity that was shut down by the George W. Bush administration and designated a terrorist group after the September 11, 2001 attacks—even though it donated money to Palestinian charities that the U.S. government also supported.
Dozens of major U.S. and international rights organizations have also called for five philanthropists who worked for the Holy Land Foundation—who were sentenced to up to 65 years in prison even though they were not accused of directly funding terrorism—to be pardoned and released, but Ogles accused Mamdani of publicly glorifying "a group convicted of financing terrorism."
Ogles also pointed to Mamdani's refusal to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," which includes the Arabic word for "uprising" and is associated by supporters of the Israeli government with Hamas' violent attacks on Israel—but evidently not with Palestinians' numerous peaceful acts of protest against Israel's apartheid policies.
Mamdani said in a podcast interview before the primary election this week that the word intifada means "very different things" for different people, including "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights"—comments many New Yorkers who voted for him, including as many as 1 in 5 Jewish Democrats, according to some polls—appeared to agree with.
But Ogles claimed the remarks bolstered the case for Mamdani's denaturalization seven years after he became a U.S. citizen, and suggested without evidence that the New York state assemblymember "concealed relevant associations" when he applied for citizenship.
"Publicly praising the [Holy Land] Foundation's leadership as 'My Guys' raises serious concerns about whether Mr. Mamdani held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process," Ogles claimed.
In a post on X announcing his request to Bondi, Ogles referred to Mamdani as "little muhammad" said, "He need to be deported."
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted on the social media platform X after Mamdani's victory that "we sadly have forgotten" the September 11 attacks, adding a photo of Mamdani wearing a traditional tunic with other Muslims at a gathering in New York.
She later posted a poll on her account, providing no justification or supporting evidence as she asked her more than 500,000 followers whether the Democratic mayoral candidate should be denaturalized and deported.
Journalist Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo pointed out that while both establishment Democratic and Republican lawmakers have joined the corporate media in lobbing accusations of antisemitism at progressive politicians and pro-Palestinian student protesters, they are "totally normalizing and amplifying the worst and most vicious Islamophobia."
"Will Rep. Hakeem Jeffries or Sen. Chuck Schumer be saying anything about this? Condemning it? Calling for a censure vote of Ogles? Any leadership at all from the Democrats against brazen Islamophobia against their own presumptive mayoral candidate?" asked Hasan, referring to the top Democrats in the House and Senate.
Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee denounced Ogles for spreading "racist drivel" and issued a reminder that Ogles "faked a $320,000 campaign loan" and "lied about being an economist," but at press time neither Schumer nor Jeffries—both New York Democrats—had publicly addressed the Republicans' attacks on the mayoral candidate and sitting lawmaker from their home state.
Another prominent Democrat in Mamdani's home state, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, appeared to align herself squarely with Republicans like Ogles—proclaiming on "The Brian Lehrer Show" that Mamdani had made references to "global jihad" and saying unequivocally that the phrase "globalize the intifada" is a call to "kill all the Jews."
Hasan was among those who said Gillibrand should "resign for falsely smearing Zohran Mamdani as a terrorist." A spokesperson for the senator later said she "misspoke" when using the phrase "global jihad"—a term Mamdani is not reported to have ever said. At press time Gillibrand herself had not publicly apologized for the remark.
In contrast to Democratic leaders' approach to Mamdani thus far, in November 2023, Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) faced a censure vote that was supported by 22 House Democrats for expressing support for Palestinian rights and criticizing the Israeli government after a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) said "egregious behavior" like that of Ogles "has gone unchecked for too long and will inevitably lead to more political violence."
"It's full-blown, dangerous Islamophobia and racism," said Ansari. "House Republican leadership must condemn it unequivocally and urgently. Enough."
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Gabbard Fires Intel Officials After Memo Counters Trump Lies About Migrants Sent to El Salvador Prison
Critics called the ousters "ominous" and warned that "an intelligence service will not protect you from real-life threats if its members get fired for not lying."
May 14, 2025
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial director of national intelligence, is generating alarm this week for firing two top officials after a memo contradicting the administration's claims about deported migrants was made public.
As Fox News first reported Tuesday, Gabbard fired Mike Collins, acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, and moved the NIC from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
As The Hill detailed:
Collins has spent nearly three decades in the intelligence community and has served as chief of staff for the CIA's deputy director. He started his career as an analyst focused on East Asia.
Langan-Riekhof also has more than 30 years of experience in the intelligence community, including as an expert on the Middle East. The ODNI previously listed her as an exceptional analyst. She also previously served as director of the Strategic Futures Group at the National Intelligence Council.
While an ODNI spokesperson told The Hill that "the director is working alongside President Trump to end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community," critics framed the firings as "the DEFINITION of politicizing intelligence."
"I am concerned about the apparent removal of senior leadership at the National Intelligence Council without any explanation except vague accusations made in the media," Congressman Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Washington Post. "Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president's agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical."
The NIC leaders were fired after last week's release of an NIC memo confirming that U.S. intelligence agencies never agreed with Trump's claim that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro controls the criminal gang Tren de Aragua. The April 7 document states that "while Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States."
Although, as the Post noted, "it was unclear what, if any, direct role Collins or Langan-Riekhof had in drafting the assessment," its release provoked pushback from Gabbard, who said last week that it was "outrageous that as President Trump and his administration work hard every day to make America safe by deporting these violent criminals, some in the media remain intent on twisting and manipulating intelligence assessments to undermine the president's agenda to keep the American people safe."
Trump has used dubious claims about Maduro controlling the gang to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act to send hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center as part of his mass deportation agenda.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on social media Wednesday: "Gabbard is purging intelligence officials over a report that the Trump administration finds politically inconvenient. Whatever the administration is trying to protect... it's not our national security."
Other critics called Gabbard's moves "ominous" and warned that "an intelligence service will not protect you from real-life threats if its members get fired for not lying."
The U.S. intelligence community (IC) "provides analysis independent of policy preferences," said James Madison University professor and former CIA analyst Stephen Marrin. "When those in power do not want to hear inconvenient facts and unwanted interpretation and punish messengers that provide it, that undermines the reason the IC was created in the first place."
Jonathan Panikoff, a former career U.S. intelligence officer who is now a director in the Atlantic Council's Middle East Program, said that "having spent five years working at the NIC, I can personally attest the [organization] is the heartbeat of apolitical U.S. all-source analysis, traditionally drawing the best of the IC's analysts together to tackle and produce assessments on the hardest issues. Anything that reduces its independence because policymakers don't like the independent conclusions it reaches, is the definition of politicization they are decrying. Mike and Maria are unbelievable leaders and IC professionals, not political actors."
Eric Brewer, who also worked for NIC, expressed full agreement with Panikoff's "excellent comments" and issued his own warning.
"This is a big deal. The result will be an IC less willing to tell the president and other leaders what they need to know rather than what they want to hear. America will be less secure because of it," Brewer said. "The professionals in the IC can withstand a lot, and will no doubt do their utmost to continue to provide objective assessments. But this act is blatant politicization and will have a chilling effect."
The memo that seemingly led to the NIC firings was revealed as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Lauren Harper, the group's Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, shared the Post's reporting about the ousters on social media Wednesday along with an observation.
"The director of national intelligence's FOIA website (which has reappeared after the entire site was briefly down) no longer has a reading room of released documents or links to its FOIA regulations which, were we to be picky, violates the EFOIA amendments of 1996," Harper highlighted. "Amazing timing."
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'Racist POS' Mike Collins Cheers Video of Ole Miss Mob Attack on Black Student
"This is not about Israel, Palestine, or Gaza. This is old-fashioned American racism and misogyny," said one observer. "These are the types of young white men who will grow up to be Republican governors, senators, and members of Congress."
May 03, 2024
Republican Georgia Congressman Mike Collins came under fire Friday over a social media post applauding video of white University of Mississippi students racially abusing a Black woman participating in a campus protest for Palestine.
Collins posted the video—in which numerous people can be heard grunting like apes and one young man is seen jumping up and down like a monkey in front of the Black woman—with the caption, "Ole Miss taking care of business."
Collins—or whoever's in charge of his social media accounts—sparred with Black leaders who called out his racism. When former Democratic Ohio state senator Nina Turner said the video showed "anti-Blackness," the congressman shot back, "*Anti-terroristness."
When Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) accused Collins of "fueling white supremacy," the Republican retorted, "Don't take down any more signs at our workplace, please" along with a photo of the Democrat triggering a fire alarm in a House of Representatives office building last year.
Around 30 protesters were rallying in support of Palestine in the Ole Miss Quad when counter-protesters gathered near the demonstrators. Some booed and chanted, "We want Trump!" Others singled out the Black woman—who NBC News said is a graduate student at the school—chanting "Lizzo, Lizzo, Lizzo," "take a shower," "your nose is huge," "fuck you, fat bitch," and "lock her up!"
The counter-protesters also sang the "Star-Spangled Banner." Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves shared a separate video of the singing students on social media, captioning his post, "Warms my heart" and "I love Mississippi."
No racist language can be heard in the video shared by Reeves.
The Daily Mississippian reports the demonstrators were escorted off the Quad after counter-protesters threw water bottles at them.
Collins is no stranger to accusations of racism. Earlier this year, he suggested murdering migrants by throwing them from helicopters into the sea, in the manner of U.S.-backed South American dictators in the 1970s.
He also
introduced the Restricting Administration Zealots from Obliging Raiders (RAZOR) Act, which would ban the federal government from removing or altering "any state-constructed barriers installed to mitigate illegal immigration," such as the razor buoys installed in the Rio Grande by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Collins was also
accused of antisemitism after he amplified a social media post by an avowed neo-Nazi targeting a Washington Post reporter for being Jewish.
Ole Miss said Friday that "statements were made at the demonstration on our campus Thursday that were offensive and inappropriate."
"We cannot comment specifically about that video, but the university is looking into reports about specific actions," the school added. "Any actions that violate university policy will be met with appropriate action."
The Ole Miss incident comes amid rapidly spreading campus protests across the U.S. and around the world in response to Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, which has killed, maimed, or left missing around 5% of the embattled strip's 2.3 million people, most of them civilians, while forcibly displacing nearly 9 in 10 people and driving hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
While numerous Ole Miss students said they did not understand what the pro-Palestine protesters hoped to accomplish, others voiced support for the demonstrators—and for Palestine.
"As we've seen throughout history, time and time again, the student movement is never wrong. Time and time again, anytime there's a student protest, and you're against it, you're on the wrong side of history," Xavier Black, a junior majoring in international studies, told
The Daily Mississippian. "So I would like to be on the right side."
One Palestinian American Ole Miss student was teary-eyed as she thanked the protesters.
"Hey guys, I know that what just happened was really intimidating, and it was a little scary, but I just want to say I'm so proud of you guys," the student—who gave only her first name, Jana—said,
according to Mississippi Today. "This wasn't going to happen... without all of you guys. Palestine was being heard. And I just want to thank you guys so much."
"I know that was such a big risk, but this is the most that people have ever thought for us, so don't give up," she added. "I know that was really hard, but we need to keep fighting. This was just the start of it, okay?"
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