The Unholy Alliance: Immigration, Socialism, and Political Islam in America

Politics makes strange bedfellows. It always has and always will.

Nevertheless, even Machiavelli might have struggled to explain today’s increasingly visible alliance between immigration activists, Democratic Socialists, and Islamic political activism in America.

On one hand, there are those who want fewer immigration restrictions. On the other hand, there are advocates who want greater government control over economic life. On the third hand (and the third hand is deliberate because it looks abnormal), some seek greater influence for religiously informed political priorities, specifically Islam.

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Welcome to the modern American political coalition, where yesterday’s contradictions become tomorrow’s campaign slogans.

Consider the insufferable Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

He’s a devoted Muslim and a self-described democratic socialist. His election in 2025 was not a landslide by far, but the political significance extends far beyond his biography.

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This is what I find is the most extraordinary part: constituencies that disagree profoundly on capitalism, religious morality, sexuality, and the proper role of government can nevertheless march beneath the same political banner.

That is their democratic right. But Americans should examine what that banner actually represents, and it’s something that troubles me.

Let’s look at the first aspect of this unholy alliance: immigration.

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In October, Mamdani joined more than 100 Democratic officials in asking New York property owners not to make their facilities available as staging areas for federal immigration operations. Supporters framed the effort as protecting communities, when in reality, it is a request to abandon immigration policy.

But immigration policy must serve the nation, not the electoral ambitions of political movements. A country that cannot distinguish between welcoming newcomers and enforcing its laws is confusing hospitality with surrendering responsibility. Again, this troubles me.

Now, let’s turn to the second aspect: socialism

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Who pays? Who decides? What happens to private enterprise? And when government promises everything, how much individual independence remains? The American Dream was built around the opportunity to succeed, not the promise that government would manage everyone’s success.

Now, to the third and most troubling aspect of this unholy alliance: political Islam

Here we must make an important distinction. Not all Muslims are a political monolith. Many are patriotic Americans, successful entrepreneurs, military veterans, and defenders of constitutional liberty.

For example, some Muslim voters in New York are considerably more conservative on education, policing, and business regulation than Mayor Mamdani.

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Consider religious freedom, women’s equality, freedom of expression, and the rights of individuals to leave or criticize a religion. These principles must apply equally to everyone. Any political movement, whether Christian, Muslim, socialist, or secular, that seeks special exemptions from constitutional principles deserve absolute scrutiny.

America guarantees freedom of religion. It does not guarantee any religion the freedom to govern everybody else.

[snip]

Immigration activists emphasize inclusion, while some political movements place strong demands on cultural identity and ideological conformity. For now, shared opposition to immigration enforcement and established political power structures can conceal these disagreements.

But political alliances built primarily around what they oppose eventually confront the uncomfortable question of what they actually believe. And that question cannot be answered indefinitely with slogans.

[snip]

We need lawful immigration, economic opportunity, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and equal protection under the law. Those principles are not obstacles to America’s future. They are its foundation.

My concern is not that newcomers are changing America because newcomers have always helped shape America. My concern is that political movements may exploit immigration, religious identity, and economic frustration to advance agendas that weaken the freedoms that made America worth coming to in the first place.

America can welcome the world without surrendering the principles that made the world want to come here.

And if an alliance demands that America abandon those principles in the name of progress, we should have the courage to ask one final question: If your political revolution destroys the American Dream, what exactly have you liberated?

(*) Full article: https://pjmedia.com/dr-andrew-fox/2026/11/03/the-unholy-alliance-immigration-socialism-and-political-islam-in-america-n4958976