Security and Denaturalization in the ICE Age

Conservatives want to deport Zohran Mamdani. It doesn't really matter that he has no criminal history. It doesn't really matter that he is a naturalized citizen with legal residency in the United States. Both those facts can be altered so that he's no longer law-abiding or a legal resident. And that's very troubling.

There's a handful of these types of letters posted about, and plenty of white nationalist members of Congress to keep sending them to Trump's nativist Justice Department. At this point, the news cycle has moved on from the letters, which will at this time do nothing to Mamdani. However, I want to hit pause and consider the problem of denaturalization, how it can be used for political marksmanship and jailing Republicans' enemies.

Ogles wrote: “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.”

It's almost funny that referring to a Muslim South Asian politician as "little muhammad (sic)" is considered accountable under Ogles' standards. However, the efforts that he and Bondi might make from this communication can political layers to the already political process and identity of naturalized citizenship in the United States. For Trump and his political circle, immigrant identity is itself criminal, and can be subjected to horrific treatment that warrants changing definitions of security and legality to keep immigrants out.

That Mamdani managed to make enough New Yorkers politically confident and secure enough to vote for him to win the Democratic nomination is not a current security threat on the books. Thus, neoconservatives will aim to make his presence, race and political career illegal. Ogles' bigoted calls for deportation are far from likely the last time that Mamdani will have the legitimacy of his American identity put under the hot seat.

As a China and Asia politics specialist, I've seen this playbook before when it was applied to politicians, journalists and civil society leaders in Hong Kong back in 2020, when a sweeping security law launched in response to protests of an extradition bill that would send defendants into the draconian mainland Chinese system. During the period of enforcement of the Hong Kong security bill, charges for political dissidence, unpatriotic activity, disturbing the peace or linkages to foreign influence were regularly aimed at legislators and public figures who did not embrace Beijing. Tabloid owner Jimmy Lai, who peppered his crass outlet with irreverent writings on Beijing, was taken into custody alongside more formally established writers, artists and journalists. Denaturalization and denial of dual citizenships and passports also occurred during this time period. After a lengthy disappearance, Chinese-born Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai was sentenced to ten years on spying charges arbitrarily drawn up, ignoring country of jurisdiction.

What lessons can we draw from Hong Kong that can be applied to the United States in 2025?

• Winning office isn't a shield. Legislators (like LaMonica McIver or Alex Padilla) who are deemed too troublesome by leaders can be indicted and charged to silence them or strip them of power.
• Naturalization is not the end of the Immigrant story. Given the eagerness of media, a pundit class that embraced Obama's birth certificate bullshit and other racist components of American politics, naturalized citizenship is considered by conservatives as a gift that they give to us immigrants. They also believe they have a return receipt at the ready to use when needed.
• Legality can be fabricated, edited and erased. The United States tends to treat Israeli politics very seriously, and frequently elevates calls for accountability by the state of Israel into antisemitic threats. This has emerged as a rather hybridized application of Chinese law enforcement of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," or greater umbrella crackdowns of political dissent

At the heart of the human drive for denaturalization and deportation is the malicious resentment that nativists hold towards immigrants. As ICE calls and sweeps ramp up, people are afraid in their communities and workplaces not just of the agents themselves, but neighbors and bigots that report their presence in the United States. For the Trump administration's newly juiced up deportation and detention apparatus, snitching is a core part of the equation. Unfortunately for people with the political ambitions of Zohran Mamdani who stand by progressive convictions, there are plenty of people willing to snitch to get him out of the way or out of politics as a whole.