A Tennessee congressman wants the Department of Justice to investigate whether Zohran Mamdani, the likely Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, misrepresented himself on his application for U.S. citizenship. U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on June 26, saying Mamdani, a naturalized citizen from Uganda, should be subject to denaturalization hearings.
Ogles cited a June 21, 2025, New York Post article about Mamdani’s time as a rap artist. One of Mamdani’s songs reportedly praises leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
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Holy Land Foundation
The Texas-based nonprofit was found in 2004 to have offered support for Hamas, and several officials were charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, among other allegations.
In one of Mamdani’s songs, he said, “My love to the Holy Land Five,” in reference to five leaders of the nonprofit convicted in 2008. The song was uncovered by Canary Mission, a group that “documents people and groups that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.”
Ogles told Bondi that praising the foundation’s convicted leadership as “my guys” should be enough to question whether he held such sympathies when he was applying for U.S. citizenship.
“While I understand that some may raise First Amendment concerns about taking legal action based on expressive conduct, such as rap lyrics, speech alone does not preclude accountability where it reasonably suggests underlying conduct relevant to eligibility for naturalization,” Ogles said.
Partisan attacks
Since it became clear that Mamdani was going to be the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, he has been subject to attacks based on his Muslim religion. If elected in November, Mamdani would become New York’s first Muslim and Asian American mayor.
“Under Kathy Hochul’s catastrophic failed leadership of the NY Democrat Party, a radical, Defund-the-Police, Communist, raging Antisemite will most likely win the New York City Democrat Mayoral primary,” U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., posted to X on June 24.
In his X post announcing the letter to Bondi, Ogles referred to Mamdani as “little Muhammad.”
Mamdani, 33, is also a democratic socialist and campaigned on no-cost bus rides, rent freezes, no-cost childcare, city-owned grocery stores and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Mamdani’s campaign was not available to respond on Thursday evening.
