President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday, floating a hypothetical situation where his administration would arrest the New York City mayoral candidate.
In a press briefing held at Florida’s new immigrant detention facility in the Everglades, Trump discussed the fallout should Mamdani win New York City’s mayoral election and fail to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“Well then, we’ll have to arrest him,” Trump said. “We don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”
Trump threatens to arrest Zohran Mamdani
Question: He said that he will defy I.C.E. And not allow them to arrest criminal aliens in New York City.
Trump: Well then we will have to arrest him… a lot of people are saying he is here illegally. We’re going to look at everything pic.twitter.com/nLExaFgDFf
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 1, 2025
Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City’s upcoming mayoral election last week. In his acceptance speech, he said he would “stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.” Trump previously threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mamdani wins the mayorship.
“Whoever’s mayor of New York is going to have to behave themselves or the federal government is coming down very tough on them financially,” Trump said, speaking to Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”
New York City’s Board of Elections released its final tally of the primary voting results on Tuesday. After the official tabulation, Mamdani won 56% of the vote to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s 44%.
Mamdani will face incumbent Eric Adams and Republican Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa in the general election. Cuomo will reportedly stay on the ballot as an independent.
“We’re going to be watching him very carefully. A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” Trump said on Tuesday. “We’re going to look at everything,”
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