Panelists on Fox News lashed out at New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani Monday after he released a video advising immigrants of their constitutional rights.
On Sunday, Mamdani explained in a short video that he intends to protect the rights of the more than 3 million immigrants who live in the city, and that he supports standing up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mamdani explained that ICE agents need a judicial warrant before gaining access to homes, schools, and other areas. He also outlined ways that ICE agents have falsely claimed to have the right to arrest people, and that people have a right to not answer questions from ICE.
“It is important to remain calm during any interaction with ICE or law enforcement,” Mamdani said, advising residents to not impede investigations or resist arrest.
But according to Fox, Mamdani’s video—which is rooted in longstanding U.S. constitutional tradition—went too far.
During “Outnumbered,” Fox contributor Mollie Hemingway said that the video was proof that Mamdani “cares more about illegal aliens than he does American citizens.”
She also asserted that ICE is only going after people who are “illegally here,” despite the fact that citizens and non-criminal immigrants have been swept up in ICE operations.
And Hemingway’s fellow panelist Nicole Saphier falsely claimed that Mamdani was “telling migrants to evade federal law enforcement,” asserting that his video was “obstruction of the federal agency.”
“If a private citizen did it, we would be arrested for aiding and abetting a criminal,” she added.
The over-the-top attack on Mamdani is a resumption of Fox’s smear campaign against him. In the weeks before the election, Fox falsely portrayed Mamdani as antisemitic, a terrorist sympathizer, and a communist who would confiscate private property.
Following his election, the network played the song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M., and host Sean Hannity complained, “I have friends of mine in New York—my phone is blowing up—they are officially depressed and scared.”
But Fox’s crusade against Mamdani didn’t work.
He easily won even after being the focus of a concentrated attack from Fox and the New York Post. And Mamdani followed up his triumph with an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump, which Fox had hyped up as a “showdown with socialism,” only to devolve into Trump gushing about Mamdani.
Fox desperately needs to add Mamdani to its ever-growing roster of left-wing villains, alongside figures like former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
And to make that happen, the network is more than happy to target constitutional protections.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
