Bronx Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) has rejected calls by a Republican congressional colleague to have presumed Democratic mayoral nominee and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (A.D. 36) deported from the United States, calling the move “unAmerican.”

 

After the attached letter was sent to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on June 26 by Rep. Andy Ogles, who represents Tennessee’s 5th congressional district, Torres wrote, “It is no secret that I have profound disagreements with Zohran Mamdani,” Torres wrote. “But every Democrat, and every decent person, should speak out with moral clarity against the despicable Islamophobic attacks that have been directed at him.”

 

He continued, “Demanding the deportation of an American citizen simply because he is Muslim, or simply because he holds political views different from your own, is not only bigoted, it is profoundly unAmerican. Bigotry in every form should be rejected unequivocally.”

In the letter, Ogles requests Bondi to instruct the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into whether Mamdani, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Uganda, procured his U.S. citizenship “through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.”

Ogles cites a New York Post story and other public records as the basis for his request. An extract from the story reads, “Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani once voiced his ‘love’ for the five leaders of a notorious nonprofit convicted of funneling more than $12 million to the terror group Hamas.”

 

It continued, “The former C-list rapper-turned-far-left-pol praised the heads of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development – known as the ‘Holy Land Five’ – in a shocking 2017 rap track uncovered by the antisemitism-fighting group Canary Mission, and made public in a one-minute video segment released Friday.”

 

Ogles said the song raised “serious concerns” about whether Mamdani “held affiliations or sympathies he failed to disclose during the naturalization process.” He broadly argued that First Amendment freedoms aside, the matter merited further investigating into whether the assemblyman had contributed financially to any terrorist organization that would have required disclosure on his N-400 paperwork or during prior interviews for citizenship.

 

“Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York,” Ogles wrote in an accompanying social media post which accompanied the letter. “He needs to be DEPORTED. Which is why I am calling for him to be subject to denaturalization proceedings. Attached is my letter to @AGPamBondi.” 

 

Torres’ colleague, Democratic, Brooklyn and Queens Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (NY-7), also condemned the move by Ogles, saying, “The unhinged racism and xenophobia from my Republican colleagues truly knows no bounds.”

 

She added, “This is disgraceful behavior from a Member of Congress, but sadly, exactly what we’ve come to expect from this caucus.”

 

During the Columbia University protests last year over the bombing of Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, as widely reported, student, Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, was detained by Trump administration immigration officials who accused him of omitting information on his green card application.

 

As reported by Politico, Khalil has not been charged with any crime but the Trump administration wants to deport him anyway, “invoking a rarely used provision of immigration law that allows the government to deport any non-citizen — even a legal resident — if the secretary of state determines that the person’s continued presence harms U.S. foreign policy interests.”

 

Khalil was released from custody on June 20 after a federal judge ordered that he be set free, and he appeared in video footage posted to social media arriving back at a New Jersey airport accompanied by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14). Khalil’s wife had given birth to their child while he was in custody.

 

Meanwhile, the NYPD previously confirmed the following to Norwood News when we inquired about threats made to the assemblyman during his mayoral campaign: “It was reported to police that on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 0945 hours, inside of 24-08 32 Street the reporter received four phone voicemails, on various dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown individual. There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing by the Hate Crime Task Force.”

 

Other media outlets reported that the threats in question were in relation to a car bomb. As reported, threats against political figures are not new nor are they a thing of the past. A Democratic congresswoman from Minnesota was recently shot dead, alongside her husband, and a senator from the same state was also shot with his partner but survived the attack.

 

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump was also shot in the ear in July 2024 during a rally in Pennsylvania but survived the shooting, as reported. Norwood News readers later weighed in on the incident and Bronx congressman, Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY-15), later lead efforts to pass the Enhanced Presidential Security Act of 2024 in the wake of the attempted assassination.

 

A subsequent assassination attempt on the president at his Florida golf course was reportedly foiled by law enforcement, and as reported, in November 2024, federal prosecutors charged three people linked to an Iranian network which was allegedly plotting to assassinate the president and other Americans.

 

Norwood News has reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment on Ogles’s letter and will share any feedback we receive.