Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., says new legislation he is introducing could ultimately result in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani being stripped of his U.S. citizenship and deported if it is determined he lied during the naturalization process.
Ogles made the claim in a social media post promoting what he called the “Remigration Act.”
“My Remigration Act would retroactively denaturalize anyone who lied on their N-400 immigration forms in the last decade,” Ogles wrote.
“Zohran Mamdani may have done this in 2018. You’re welcome New York.”
The congressman included a video from a Newsmax interview in which he outlined broader immigration reforms that he believes Congress should pursue.
Speaking on Carl Higbie FRONTLINE, Ogles argued that the nation’s immigration system has been undermined by fraud and inadequate enforcement.
“Immigration is an 80/20 issue,” Ogles told the Newsmax TV host.
He blamed many of the current challenges on the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which overhauled the nation’s immigration laws.
“I have the ASSIMILATION Act, which redoes the immigration framework,” Ogles said.
“After 1965, Hart-Celler was put into place and really creates this mess that has been abused, used and abused. There’s fraud, H-1B visas, the chain migration. So that’s part of it.”
The ASSIMILATION Act would make sweeping changes to legal immigration by increasing the residency requirement for citizenship from five years to 10 years, expanding the “good moral character” standard, strengthening English-language requirements and revising birthright citizenship under federal law.
Ogles also proposed creating a faster process for revoking citizenship from naturalized Americans who obtained it fraudulently.
“So, we streamline the process,” he said.
“If you’re committing crimes, if you’ve been here in the last 10 years, you’ve committed a felony fraud, we’re going to kick you out, and we move it from the DOJ to the naturalization immigration agency that handles this so they can expedite it.”
“It becomes an administrative process versus a criminal. And that’s how you do large numbers quickly.”
Under current federal law, denaturalization cases are generally handled through civil proceedings in federal court, with the Department of Justice required to prove that citizenship was obtained illegally or through material misrepresentation.
A judge—not an administrative agency—ultimately decides whether citizenship should be revoked.
While Ogles has argued that the process should be shifted to immigration authorities to speed enforcement, the current text of the ASSIMILATION Act primarily focuses on changing future naturalization requirements rather than overhauling the existing denaturalization process.
The Tennessee Republican said immigration policy should prioritize assimilation and national security.
“If you come to this country and you don’t love it, you shouldn’t be here,” Ogles said.
“It’s that simple.”
“We get to decide who comes in, and we get to decide who leaves.”
He also argued that stronger screening should occur before immigrants are admitted into the country.
“We should know who’s coming in,” Ogles said.
“There should be a background check. You should have to have a job before you get here.”
Ogles additionally called for the creation of a task force to review asylum and refugee decisions made during the Biden administration.
“We need this task force that can expedite these individuals, get them denaturalized and get them deported,” he said.
“We owe it to the American taxpayer.”
The congressman’s comments come as Republicans continue to make immigration one of their top issues heading into the 2026 midterm elections, with several lawmakers proposing legislation aimed at tightening both legal and illegal immigration while expanding deportation authority.
Ogles’ suggestion that Mamdani could be affected by the proposal has already drawn significant attention, though no court or federal agency has determined that the New York mayor made any false statements during his naturalization process.
