In the 1950s, a little-known junior senator from Wisconsin led an intense anti-communist line of questioning of fellow Congress members, well-known celebrities, immigrants, and labor unions. The “second Red Scare” led to the blacklisting of prominent members of society for their alleged associations with communism, anarchy, and radical left ideology, with some being arrested and even deported.
When Rep. Chip Roy introduced the Mamdani Act this week, he may not have been thinking of McCarthyism, but he was making a direct reference to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The Measures Against Marxism’s Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists (Mamdani) Act is an immigration proposal that would make noncitizens deportable and ineligible for naturalization, and even potentially subject to denaturalization over ties to or advocacy for socialism, communism, Marxism, Chinese communism, or “Islamic fundamentalism.”
“By targeting the Red-Green Alliance, this legislation deploys new tools to fight back against the Marxist and Islamist advance that has devastated Europe and has now arrived on our doorstep, especially in my home state of Texas,” the statement continued.
The acronym references Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist who was sworn in as New York City’s mayor on Jan. 1 and became the city’s first Muslim mayor, first mayor of South Asian descent, and first mayor born in Africa. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, became a U.S. citizen in 2018, and campaigned on affordability proposals including free childcare, free bus service, and a rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants.
The act would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add new deportability grounds for noncitizens who engage in advocacy, write or distribute written or electronic material supporting those ideologies, act on behalf of listed parties, or belong to affiliated organizations. Among the organizations are the Socialist Party of the United States, the Democratic Socialists of America, foreign or state-level socialist parties, successors or predecessors, and any “socialist-action” or “socialist-front” organization. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, though he said he campaigns on his own platform and does not endorse all of the group’s goals.
Roy framed the proposal as a response to what he called the “Red-Green Alliance,” a term used by some conservatives to describe perceived cooperation between left-wing and Islamist movements.
Neither Roy’s nor Mamdani’s office responded to Fortune’s request for comment.
