‘They want us to be grateful just for being allowed’: Zohran Mamdani delivers pro-immigration speech on July 4
mayor of new york city Zoran Mamdani He delivered a pro-immigration speech Friday on the eve of America’s 250th Independence Day celebrations, offering President Donald Trump an alternative vision for America just hours before the president is scheduled to deliver a speech at Mount Rushmore.Speaking at New York’s City Hall, seated behind a desk once occupied by George Washington and surrounded by newly naturalized U.S. citizens holding American flags, Mamdani saw immigration as central to the country’s identity and criticized what he said was an effort to define America through exclusion. Although he did not mention Trump by name, some of the remarks appeared to be directed at the administration’s immigration policies.“If you ask them, the more people America welcomes, the less it becomes,” Mamdani said. “They will tell you that America only belongs to those with the right accent or the right color. They insist that the rest of us should be grateful for being allowed access.”The mayor, who was born in Uganda to Indian-American parents, recalled seeing the Statue of Liberty on a plane when he first arrived in the United States and said the country is constantly being reshaped by immigrants, activists and ordinary citizens who work to uphold the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.Speaking about immigration enforcement, Mamdani said, “We see masked agents wreaking terror on our streets, eating food cooked by our undocumented neighbors and smuggling them away in unmarked vans. We see a country whose vast wealth was built by the calloused, dirt-stained hands of those who toiled on factory floors, chipping away at stone, and we see a country that allows so much wealth to rest in the weak hands of a precious few.”“Calling secession the “oldest” and “cheapest” trick in politics, Mamdani argued that exclusionary politics had been defeated time and time again in American history.“At every moment in our past, those who have led through exclusion and isolation have sought to win power and enrich themselves by pitting us against each other,” he said. “Time and time again, including 250 years ago, those forces of division have been defeated by the forces of progress.”He emphasized the role of new Americans, saying: “The work of realizing the values first embodied in the Declaration of Independence is enduring, and it belongs to all of us. It also belongs to our newest Americans, those who stand with me today, all of them recent naturalized citizens.”Mamdani, who became a U.S. citizen in 2018, added: “About ten years ago, I felt what you were feeling, the joy of not being just a New Yorker anymore, but an American.”The mayor concluded his speech with a call for unity, saying: “Those ideals that our country was founded on, they are strong enough to withstand any dictatorship, but only if we strive to live up to them.”“Ours is a country that strives every day to achieve the perfection it envisions, a country that strives every day to better itself. That’s the job of America, to strive, to improve, to achieve perfection,” he added.The speech marked Mamdani’s latest appearance on the national political stage after a series of victories for candidates he backed in New York’s Democratic primary. Under the U.S. Constitution, Mamdani is not eligible to run for president because he is not a natural-born citizen. He rejected calls to amend the constitution, saying it “just looks good”.Trump is scheduled to deliver his address at Mount Rushmore as part of national celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, with fireworks displays, military flyovers and commemorative ceremonies taking place across the country.
