‘I Was Terrified’: Zohran Remembers Being Pulled Into a Holding Room at JFK

From exile in Uganda to detention at JFK, a new book shows how America makes immigrants sprint for dignity—and how Mamdani turned that chase into politics.

WASHINGTON — Zohran Mamdani doesn’t start his story with politics. He starts with exile. “I am an Indian-Ugandan New Yorker. It’s the hyphenated immigrant dream.” His grandfather was one of the South Asians driven out of Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. “What was taken from them was a sense of self, a sense of stability, and a sense of belonging.” The family learned early that home can vanish with a decree, a uniform, a knock on the door.