Letter to US Rep. Nydia Velázquez, NY-07

Hello Rep. Velázquez,

I saw your victory speech at Mr. Mamdani's primary celebration party, thank you for putting your weight behind him! He is the first mayoral candidate I have been at all excited to see in some time.

Which is why I was very angry to hear that a corrupt colleague of yours from all the way over in Tennessee call on extrajudicial deportation of Mr. Mamdani. I'm sure you agree that this is a bewilderingly racist, defamatory, and unethical public statement. I am no legal scholar, but I would believe that it is also illegal, as Rep. Ogles makes no assertions that Mr. Mamdani has committed any crimes that could possible warrant his denaturalization, other than winning the support of the NYC Democratic electorate.

To whatever extent you can, I ask that you try to ensure that this kind of dangerous public speech from your colleagues does not simply go "ignored" or avoided, but is rebuked with consequences. Calling for the extrajudicial deportation of a US citizen for being an ideological foil in a vastly different constituency is below the honor of the House of Representatives. Rep. Ogles should be stripped of any powers he has for this kind of political action: how can he be expected to uphold the Constitution if he believes he can simply call on the Attorney General to revoke those inalienable rights? He should be censured, reprimanded, and forced to apologize for encroaching on the sanctity of US citizenship.

I would also say that he should be ousted from his seat, but unlike Rep. Ogles I actually respect the local-first framework of American democracy, so I will take that part of my argument up with his constituents.

Thank you for your time.