Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose district includes parts of both San Antonio and Austin, on Monday filed an anti-immigrant, anti-free speech bill he’s dubbed the “MAMDANI Act.”
The Measures Against Marxism’s Dangerous Adherents and Noxious Islamists Act proposes amending federal immigration law to allow for the deportation, denaturalization or denial of citizenship to any migrant who’s a member of a socialist, communist or Islamic fundamentalist party.
Beyond that, Roy’s measure would punish any migrant who “advocates” for socialism, communism, Marxism or Islamic fundamentalism. Under the bill’s broad definition, that could include “writing, districting, circulating, printing, displaying, possessing, or publishing any written, electronic, or printed matter” defending such beliefs.
“Why do we continue to import people who hate us?” the congressman asked in a press statement about his bill.
In keeping with Roy’s flair for performative hard-right politics, the bill’s acronym is clearly intended as a dig at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Uganda-born democratic socialist who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018. Mamdani, who’s also Muslim, has become a frequent bogeyman for right-wing media and political figures.
Roy filed the bill as he’s locked in a May 26 runoff for the GOP nomination for Texas Attorney General. His rival in that contest, State Sen. Mayes Middleton, is known for a similar brand of combative culture-war politics.
Roy also filed his proposal roughly a week after a Washington Post report on the congressman’s growing anti-Muslim fervor, including his claims that Islam is incompatible with U.S. democracy, even though the U.S. Constitution guarantees people’s ability to worship as they choose.
Including a recent tweet in which he stated, “No more Muslims,” Roy has made more than 244 comments since January from his social media accounts about Muslims, Islam and “Sharia law,” according to the Post’s calculations — more than any other member of Congress.
Roy’s bill has drawn condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and political observers, who blasted it as bigoted and divisive, not to mention indefensible in court on First Amendment grounds.
“You don’t get to deport people for their political views, nor their beliefs — even if you don’t like them. That’s not how America works,” tech-policy consultant and Conestoga College professor Adam Cochran tweeted in response to the measure. “Chip Roy should try learning about the Constitution before being such a hateful, bigoted dumbass.”
U.S. Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, D-Chicago, cautioned that supporting Roy’s efforts to demonize Muslims and others is a dangerous slippery slope.
“Fascism ALWAYS requires a public enemy,” U.S. Rep. Delia C. Ramirez, D-Chicago, tweeted in response to the legislation. “Republicans in Congress will expand their list of targets — little by little, hoping you do not notice — until there is no one left to stand against their agenda.”
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