--- title: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat description: The President escalated his attacks on Mamdani, threatening to arrest the Democratic mayoral candidate who vowed to defy ICE agents. canonical: https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-07-01T23:16:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:00.225Z article:section: Politics og:title: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat og:description: The President threatened to arrest Mamdani, who has vowed to defy ICE agents. og:url: https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f495629c622e69b/6998c7ef1500fb4f8eaa6653/Mamdani-Trump-Threats.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: New York City Tesla demonstrations continue og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat twitter:description: The President threatened to arrest Mamdani, who has vowed to defy ICE agents. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f495629c622e69b/6998c7ef1500fb4f8eaa6653/Mamdani-Trump-Threats.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘We Will Not Accept This Intimidation’: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2260cef6-f64e-4941-a369-a90fac7a6e1d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Doesn’t Want Zohran Mamdani to Win But Will Work With Anyone, White House Says [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Doesn’t Want Zohran Mamdani to Win But Will Work With Anyone, White House Says](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UXVpwPkd.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2025-06-30. Zohran Mamdani delivered a stunning upset Tuesday night, drawing enough votes in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary to emerge as the likely winner. The success by the 33-year-old Democratic socialist prompted President Donald Trump to express his displeasure in a series of posts attacking the state assemblyman’s appearance, voice, and intelligence while referencing his progressive political allies and calling him “a 100% Communist Lunatic.”_ by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jul 1, 2025 11:16 PM UTC  New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joins a demonstration outside of Tesla stores to protest Elon Musk and his then-role at the Department of Government Efficiency in the West Village neighborhood of New York City on March 29, 2025. New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani joins a demonstration outside of Tesla stores to protest Elon Musk and his then-role at the Department of Government Efficiency in the West Village neighborhood of New York City on March 29, 2025. Andrew Lichtenstein—Corbis/Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Jul 1, 2025 11:16 PM UTC [Zohran Mamdani](https://time.com/7296925/zohran-mamdani-nyc-mayoral-primary/), the Democratic candidate in the upcoming New York City mayoral race, denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to arrest him over his pledge to push back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, calling the President's comments “an attack on our democracy” and “intimidation.” Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist state assemblymember whose [victory](https://time.com/7299335/zohran-mamdani-nyc-democratic-mayoral-primary/) over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in [last week’s Democratic primary](https://time.com/7297431/zohran-mamdani-cuomo-concedes-new-york-city-democratic-mayoral-primary/) marked a stunning political upset, has said that he would be [“Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qOm8ZSeZOyg) He has condemned the Trump Administration’s efforts to conduct mass deportations, [promising](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/nyregion/mamdani-speech-watch-party.html) in a speech the night of the primary election to use his authority to “stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors.” Trump has [criticized](https://time.com/7297832/trump-zohran-mamdani-reaction-communist-lunatic/) Mamdani since the 33-year-old state lawmaker declared victory in the Democratic primary, calling him [“a 100% Communist lunatic”](https://time.com/7297832/trump-zohran-mamdani-reaction-communist-lunatic/) in the wake of the election. The President escalated his attacks on Mamdani during a press briefing on Tuesday. He [alluded](https://x.com/GloriaPazmino/status/1940095329065705505) to false claims that Mamdani is in the country “illegally.” Mamdani is not in the U.S. illegally; he was [born](https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Zohran-K-Mamdani) in Uganda and moved to the U.S. at the age of 7, becoming a naturalized American citizen in 2018\. Trump was also asked during the press briefing how he responded to Mamdani’s vow to defy ICE agents, to which the President [replied](https://www.axios.com/2025/07/01/trump-mamdani-arrest-ice-immigration), “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him.” Mamdani took to social media hours later to slam the President’s comments, saying that Trump had threatened to arrest him “not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.” “His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you,” Mamdani said in his statement. “We will not accept this intimidation.” The Trump Administration’s [mass-deportation operation](https://time.com/7291757/trump-deportation-ice-el-salvador/) has sparked widespread controversy and criticism, including among New York politicians. In June, New York City comptroller Brad Lander, a candidate in the Democratic primary race for mayor at the time, was [detained](https://time.com/7295152/brad-lander-arrest-immigration-court/) by federal agents at a Manhattan immigration courthouse as he sought to escort an individual that federal officials were seemingly attempting to arrest. Lander had been observing immigration court hearings after a [growing number of reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/nyregion/immigration-courthouse-arrests-trump-deportation.html) that immigrants attending court proceedings there were being arrested by ICE agents. The same month, thousands of people [took to the streets](https://time.com/7292232/la-protests-trump-best-photos/) in Los Angeles to protest ICE raids in the area, provoking Trump’s ire and prompting him to [mobilize](https://time.com/7291978/los-angeles-immigration-protests-trump-national-guard-deployed-newsom-backlash/) the National Guard. Protests over Trump’s aggressive immigration policies soon [spread to many other cities](https://time.com/7292495/ice-immigration-protests-la-national/) across the country, including New York City. ## Transcript Does President Trump want Zoran Mamdani deported? I haven't heard him say that. I haven't heard him call for that. But certainly he does not want this individual to be elected. I was just speaking to him about it and his radical policies that will completely crush New York City, which is obviously a city that the president holds near and dear to his heart. There's this Congressman, Andy Ogles. He wants the Attorney General Bondi, to explore Denaturalization proceedings because he thinks Mamdani could have misrepresented or concealed material support for terrorism based on rap lyrics he wrote in 2017. Does President Trump think this is a worthwhile use of the attorney general's time? Well, I'll let the president speak to that. I have not seen those claims, but surely if they are true, it's something that should be investigated. The president is always willing to work with everyone. He's working with Democrats across the country, Democrat governors. And he said he'll work with people on the far left. He works with Republicans. He works with people in the middle. He wants to do what's right for America. But surely someone who holds these values and is quite literally a communist and condemns every value that makes this country great common sense, law and order, low taxes, working hard and earning your keep in this country. He's against all of that. And I think the president would find it difficult to work with someone like that if he is elected. I'm sure you'll hear more from the president on that, but we'll have to see. Hopefully the voters of New York City choose wisely. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/"},"headline":"‘We Will Not Accept This Intimidation’: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat","datePublished":"2025-07-01T23:16:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:00.225Z","description":"The President escalated his attacks on Mamdani, threatening to arrest the Democratic mayoral candidate who vowed to defy ICE agents.","url":"https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/","keywords":["Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f495629c622e69b/6998c7ef1500fb4f8eaa6653/Mamdani-Trump-Threats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f495629c622e69b/6998c7ef1500fb4f8eaa6653/Mamdani-Trump-Threats.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New York City Tesla demonstrations continue","caption":"New York City Tesla demonstrations continue","creditText":"Andrew Lichtenstein—Corbis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7299415/zohran-mamdani-trump-arrest-threat/","name":"‘We Will Not Accept This Intimidation’: Zohran Mamdani Responds to Trump’s Arrest Threat"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Doesn’t Want Zohran Mamdani to Win But Will Work With Anyone, White House Says","description":"Zohran Mamdani delivered a stunning upset Tuesday night, drawing enough votes in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary to emerge as the likely winner. 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