'Utterly deplorable': This MAGA tactic against political rivals 'sends a chill down the spine'

Donald Trump is far from the first U.S. president to have an aggressive deportations policy. During former President Barack Obama's eight years in the White House, some of his Spanish-speaking critics on the left called him "El Rey de las Deportaciones" ("The King of Deportations") or "El Jefe de Deportaciones " ("The Boss of Deportations") during their appearances on Univision and Telemundo.

Yet Trump, during his second presidency, favors some immigration tactics that previous presidents, both Democrat and Republican, never considered — from calling for an end to birthright citizenship (which is protected by the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment) to calling for some naturalized U.S. citizens to be denaturalized and stripped of their citizenship.

The naturalized U.S. citizens who some MAGA Republicans would like to denaturalize and deport for being Trump foes were born in Somalia (Rep. Ilhan Omar), South Africa (Tesla/SpaceX head Elon Musk) or Uganda (Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani).

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In a scathing op-ed published by The Guardian on July 3, journalist/author Justice Malala calls out MAGA's denaturalization push as deeply troubling — even when the target is Musk.

Malala writes, "Elon Musk is an utterly deplorable human being…. So the news that Donald Trump 'will take a look' at deporting his billionaire former 'first buddy' Musk has many smirking and shrugging: 'Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.' I like a good comeuppance, but this doesn't please me at all. It sends a chill down the spine."

Malala continues, "It is the use of law enforcement agencies as a tool to chill debate, to silence disagreement and dissent, and to punish political opposition. Democracy is dimming fast in the United States, but threats to deport U.S. citizens for disagreeing with the governing administration's policies are the domain of authoritarian regimes such as Belarus or Cameroon."

Malala notes that far-right Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee) is calling for Mamdani to be denaturalized and asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate him. Trump, meanwhile, is attacking Mamdani as a "communist" and said, "We don't need a communist in this country."

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Mamdani, however, is not a communist, and actual Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyites and Maoists don't consider him one. Rather, Mamdani identifies as a "democratic socialist" like his allies Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).

"Mamdani has not broken any laws," Malala emphasizes. "His sin? Running for office. In his threats against Mamdani and Musk, the president comes across like the notorious Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. McCarthy was, according to the Harvard law dean Ervin Griswold, 'judge, jury, prosecutor, castigator, and press agent, all in one.'"

Malala continues, "Trump's threats to Musk and Mamdani are a departure from the (Trump) Administration's modus operandi of targeting foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian organizing on U.S. college campuses. It is now targeting people it disagrees with on any issue. The threats are not based on any generally applicable laws, but on the whim of the president or other administration leaders. It is an escalation of the assault on civil liberties using government entities to arbitrarily investigate and potentially punish critics."

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Justice Malala's full op-ed for The Guardian is available at this link.