‘MAMDANI Act’ pushes both anti-communism and Islamophobia

“Following the ‘alien radical,’ the naturalized American, is the first victim of the Czarification of America. Patriotic profiteers and political hooligans are united in the cry for the ‘Americanization’ of the foreigner in the United States. He is to be ‘naturalized,’ intellectually sterilized and immunized to Bolshevism, so that he may properly appreciate the glorious spirit of American democracy.”

— Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, upon being deported for their political beliefs during the Palmer raids. 

Though Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman wrote this in 1919, its themes reverberate in 2026. The newly introduced MAMDANI (Measures Against Marxism’s Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists) Act by a right-wing lawmaker is part of a long history of anti-communism and immigrant repression, now with an added Islamophobic touch.

The turn of the 20th century saw the United States rise to imperial grandeur, reaching new heights at the end of World War I under Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, who saw the success of the Russian Revolution as an ideological threat that justified his commencement of the first Red Scare. 

Wilson appointed Alexander Mitchell Palmer as United States Attorney General in 1919, who would infamously publish “The Case Against the ‘Reds’” in which he claimed that the “blaze of revolution… was eating its way into the homes of the American workman” and that “the ‘Reds’ [are] criminal aliens.” 

The Palmer Raids commenced in November 1919, following John Edgar Hoover’s recruitment to Palmer’s Red Scare campaign, initially targeting the Union of Russian Workers and subjecting its members to deportation.

Though the United States claims to uphold freedom of speech and pluralism, it has a long history of state repression of communists and others on the left. This repression often dovetails with xenophobic immigration limitations. The tactics of the first Red Scare and Hoover’s legacy set the stage for the McCarthy Era. In the midst of Cold War atrocities marked by American foreign intervention, ideological suppression of communism and other left sentiments took center stage in domestic policy. 

The growth of the Communist Party stood as an immediate threat to American interests abroad, catalyzing the passage of the Communist Control Act of 1954, which criminalized Party membership. It defines the Communist Party as “an authoritarian dictatorship within a republic…denying to all others the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.” 

The hypocrisy of this verbiage is potent in light of the Trump administration’s dismantlement of constitutional rights, especially with regard to the originalist-majority Supreme Court’s findings against unenumerated rights such as the right to privacy, upon which interracial marriage, same-sex marriage, and reproductive rights were granted. 

The Act applies to “any successors of such party, regardless of the assumed name,” its open-ended nature acting as a foundation for later legalized political suppression. This history of Anti-Communist repression did not die at the end of the Cold War, but lives in conjunction with Islamophobia and other forms of racism. 

Texas Congressman Chip Roy introduced the MAMDANI Act of 2026 early last week. The bill seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to deport, denaturalize, and deny U.S. citizenship or entry to individuals who are members of a socialist party, a communist party, the Communist Party of China, or an “Islamic fundamentalist” organization, as well as those who advocate for socialism, communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism.

U.S. presidents have historically used national security arguments to further American interests against the liberties of citizens. These arguments were the basis for the seizure of American steel companies on strike during the Korean War and the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans in internment camps following the Pearl Harbor attack. 

This same language is present in the Internal Security Act of 1950, which is relevant to the inadmissibility of immigrants affiliated with the Communist Party under INA §1182(3)(D)(i). Any such membership within five years of naturalization is prima facie evidence of a failure to disclose material evidence that may have prevented naturalization, and is thus grounds for revocation of citizenship according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Policy Manual.

The INA, therefore, already contains restrictions on political participation for up to five years following naturalization. Roy’s amendment seeks to make these restrictions terminal, striking the five-year limitation. Moreover, the Bill makes obvious the implicit xenophobia in its predecessor acts by striking the word “immigrant” and replacing it with the outdated “alien.”

Its expansion in banning affiliation with “any organization that advocates or advocated for the economic, international, or governmental doctrines of social, communist, Chinese communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism” may include a wide range of sentiments based on human and economic rights. 

The amendment’s all-encompassing nature is all the more clear in its definitions of socialism, communism, and Marxism, where “advocating the restructuring of economic and social relations to reduce class distinctions,” “that human history is primarily driven by class struggles,” and that “the foundation of all legal, political, cultural, societal, and social structures is class or economic standing” are all grounds for inadmissibility.

Further, advocacy includes “writing, distributing, circulating, printing, displaying, possessing, or publishing any written, electronic, or printed matter that advocates” for the targeted political beliefs. This definition would disrupt academic integrity in formal institutions and go as far as to limit the expansion of knowledge of citizens even in the privacy of the home, giving weight to Trump’s notorious statement that he “love[s] the poorly educated.” Roy seeks to circumvent judicial intervention through this Bill, making decisions final and “not subject to review by any court,” robbing immigrants of any recourse.

When interviewed by the far-right news outlet, Breitbart News, Roy stated his reasons for the law: 

“Why do we continue to import people who hate us? Not just for the last six years, but for the last 60 years, our immigration system has been cynically used to disadvantage American workers’ competitiveness in favor of mass-importing the third world. This has not just led to higher crime and lower wages, but also the promulgation of hostile ideologies fundamentally opposed to American values.

“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.”

Roy regularly plays up these racist fears of an “invasion” on the southern border, saying he will “prepare the battlefield,” and that Democrats are trying to “end Western Civilization.” He even introduced a bill in 2025 to “preserve America from Sharia law.” This blatant xenophobia carries on the tradition of the aforementioned Acts’ political suppression of immigrants.

As bills, these actions pose serious dangers. Though they are unlikely to pass, they signal an even more brazen escalation as he campaigns for attorney general. This finance-capital-backed far-right figure could propel his career to chief legal officer in Texas.  

The bill is part of a larger pattern in Texas that has systematically targeted Muslim communities. Earlier, Republican Governor Greg Abbot designated the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) a foreign terrorist organization.

This reactionary proposal raises questions surrounding the desperate desire of Republicans to demonize Muslim immigrants and to further the Red Scare agenda, going as far as to name the bill after New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Material reasons for the bill

As the United States economically stratifies further, it is no secret that capitalism is becoming less popular. Only about 54% of Americans view capitalism positively, the lowest number in Gallup poll history. 

This plunging popularity of Capitalism is directly tied to the cost-of-living crisis. About ¼ of Americans say they have skipped a medical appointment or not filled a prescription because of the cost. Over a third say they cannot afford to attend sporting events. Nearly half won’t travel because of the cost of airfare. Half say they find it difficult to pay for food. And nearly 2/3 believe college is not worth the cost. 

These deteriorating material conditions are happening while there is a proliferation of billionaires. As Karl Marx wrote, “accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole.” The American people are becoming more aware by the day that it is not simply haves and have-nots, but haves expropriating it from the have-nots.  

Politicians like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Mamdani—who all self-identify as democratic socialists—are gaining popularity. Mamdani currently enjoys a +18 net approval in New York City and has emerged as a rising star in the Democratic Party nationwide.

Americans are increasingly identifying with socialism and supporting politicians they associate with the term. This development is prompting Republicans and many Democrats to demonize socialism and its associated public figures 

At the same time, the bill aims to fear-monger about Islamic fundamentalism. It plays on the ignorance and racism in his own base. Moreover, it attempts to “otherize” certain Americans as having foreign ideologies that are incompatible with so-called American values, which begs the question as to why communism and socialism are framed as contrary to Americanism, while fascism faces no such attempts.

The bill targets Mamdani as the pinnacle of everything they fear—a Muslim socialist, born in Africa, who became one of the most popular politicians in the Democratic Party. He is everything they tried to paint Obama as, yet this rhetoric did not stop the populace from electing him.

Thought crime the target

Though Roy and many other Republicans claim to be champions of free speech, they use it as a vehicle for power rather than some sacred principle. Roy claimed to be defending freedom of speech by criticizing the Communist Party of China during a hearing on violence against Asian-Americans. 

He went on to make outlandish racist references about lynchings in that same hearing. Roy asked his own colleagues not to engage in cancel culture over his use of the metaphor to “defend victims of crime.” 

The representative claims to be in favor of free speech when it suits his own racist ideology. When he disagrees with the ideas, he has no problem banning anti-racism in schools. He introduced a bill in 2025 to do just that. 

Chip Roy and the Republican Party are no champions of free expression. When they oppose an idea or ideology, they turn this so-called principle upside down. Lest we forget, they detained and tried to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts PhD student, for writing an op-ed about Palestinian liberation. Or their systematic targeting of the Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil for engaging in his right to protest. 

The right wing glorifies debate and the “marketplace of ideas,” but when they are losing, they have no problem changing the rules of the game. The MAMDANI Act is a clear example of this opposition and animosity to free expression. 

Deportation and denaturalization based on association with groups or ideas is certainly a slippery slope toward full-blown fascism. 

Liberals, progressives, socialists, communists, and even conservatives and libertarians should loudly oppose this Bill as an affront to freedom of thought. This attack on the First Amendment directly targets the most sacred American rights. 

Any American who claims to love freedom should take the lesson of the great Paul Robeson when questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee for “supporting the Communist cause.” Robeson said, “I am here because I am opposing the neo-Fascist cause which I see arising in these committees.” Let us all oppose this rising fascism in every way possible. 

As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.

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