Competitive NY13 race erupts after Chevalier backs all deportations

Chevalier insists – A viral clip from a Vox podcast interview has slammed progressive House contender Darializa Avila Chevalier with backlash from across the political spectrum after she said deportations are always wrong—even for non-citizens convicted of serious crimes. Her ans

By the time the viral clip started circling again this week, the question had already been set up like a trap—one that forced Democratic Socialists of America-linked candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier to confront what she’s said before about deportations.

Astead Herndon, the former New York Times reporter turned Vox podcaster, asked Chevalier whether she still believed “all deportations are wrong” in a segment that quickly went viral and sparked derision from both sides of the aisle.

Herndon pressed Chevalier in the clip, focusing on two controversial past tweets. Chevalier, who is backed by Zohran Mamdani and is challenging longtime Democratic Party incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in his upper Manhattan district, faces a race polls show is a toss-up between the two candidates.

The exchange landed on the line that has become a flashpoint for progressive politics: “all deportation is wrong.”

Herndon asked: “I still want to ask about two tweets specifically because I think they are relevant to the race. The first is ‘all deportation is wrong.’ Now in Congress. obviously. that comes with a lot of questions about immigration enforcement. and even as Democrats might agree with calls that you have shared to things like ‘abolish ICE. ’ I don’t know if they’re necessarily there on things like ‘all deportations is wrong.’ Is that something you still believe?”.

Chevalier answered without shifting: “That phrase, yes, I still believe that all deportations are wrong.”

Herndon tried to narrow the question toward criminality and legal status. “Even if we’re talking about illegal entry to the country, or someone who may have committed a crime?” he pressed.

Chevalier responded by steering the conversation to how deportation would operate legally. “So, when we’re talking about things like illegal entry, we’re actually talking about administrative laws, right? We’re not talking about criminal law, right?”

Herndon came back to the broader implication of Chevalier’s position. “Let me concede the question of people who have not committed a crime. because I think that’s not really the question. Like. if we’re saying all deportation is wrong. though. that would seem to also include people who were convicted of breaking U.S. criminal law. Is the deportation of those people wrong?”.

Chevalier said “Yes.”

The candidate’s reasoning, as delivered in the clip, centered on the claim that the U.S. already runs a criminal system—imperfect. but real—and that adding immigration detention and deportation on top of criminal punishment becomes a second penalty. “And the reason I say that is because we have a criminal system. It isn’t perfect, but it exists. And it is one that. if we accept as the process by which we want to engage with these issues. right — the issues of harm. issues of criminality. what have you — then we need to make sure that it isn’t also discriminatory on the basis of where people were born. ” Chevalier replied.

She continued with a direct description of what she said deportations would mean for people caught in both systems. “To subject someone who has committed a crime to both a criminal system. and then additionally to an immigration system that also detains them in the very same facilities that people who are convicted of criminal convictions are also held. right. and then deported and ripped away from everything they know and love — that is also punishment.

“And that is punishment not on the basis of the crime they committed. because they already served their time when they were processed through the criminal system; it is double punishment. And if we truly believe that double jeopardy is something that is unconstitutional. something that’s unethical. something that’s against the principles of equality in this country. we cannot subject people to that on the basis of where they were born.”.

The viral clip didn’t stay in the realm of policy debate. It quickly became an issue of political identity—how far a Democratic district can be nudged before voters reject the argument outright.

Josh Barro, a centrist journalist and podcaster, shared the clip and wrote: “These people are lunatics — Chevalier says it is always wrong to deport anyone, even a non-citizen convicted of a serious crime.”

Rotimi Adeoye. a New York Times opinion writer. added: “For the sake of every Democrat running outside deep-blue cities. arguing that people who entered the country illegally and then committed serious felonies like rape or murder should not be deported because of concerns about the criminal justice system is very dumb to say.”.

On the right, Fox News’ Guy Benson declared, “The future of the party is arriving.”

The reactions weren’t limited to opposition. One post argued that Chevalier’s willingness to defend the stance mattered as much as the stance itself. “If Darializa is elected. she’ll probably be the most leftist member of the House – not just because of her political positions (like opposing deportations). but because of her willingness to defend those positions instead of moderating in response to political pressure.”.

Others focused on how the candidate argued. “Her position is pretty radical, but I have to say she’s well-spoken and handled the question much better than say an AOC would have.”

Still others framed Chevalier’s view as effectively insisting on a boundary line that many voters see as untenable. “She seriously argues that if someone here illegally commits a crime they shouldn’t be deported because that is unfair. discriminatory punishment on top of a criminal sentence. ” David Marcus wrote.

A different critic tried to translate the exchange into electoral risk. “I’m trying to imagine how badly the Dems would get blown out nationally if they took Darializa’s position that undocumented immigrants who commit crimes shouldn’t be deported. In fact, she reiterates her view that deportations simply should never occur. That’s a, what, 20% view?” Sir Humphrey posted.

And some reactions went further, mixing contempt with political hope. “Puritanism— whether religious, or political, right or left— is really fucking dangerous and simply because this lady so happily dabbles in it, I hope she gets creamed on election night,” Liz Mair wrote.

The clip also prompted multiple posts that zeroed in on the moment Herndon put the question directly—whether deportation is wrong for people convicted of breaking U.S. criminal law. “Q: If we are saying all deportation is wrong. though. that would seem to also include people who were convicted of breaking US criminal law. Is the deportation wrong for those people?. Mamdani backed House NY13 candidate, Darializa Avila Chevaliar: ‘Yes.’”.

Others tied the interview to deeper arguments about national sovereignty and borders. “At the heart of progressive ideology is a deeply-held belief that countries do not have a right to have borders or sovereignty,” Corey Walker wrote.

In the end. the fury that met Chevalier’s answer was not surprising—it was embedded in how the question was asked and how she replied. She didn’t treat “all deportations are wrong” as a slogan with exceptions. In the clip. she offered a full-throated “Yes” when the hypothetical turned toward serious criminal convictions. grounded in her contention that criminal punishment cannot be followed by what she described as a second. unequal penalty delivered through immigration detention and deportation.

That stance now hangs over a race that remains tight: Chevalier is trying to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat in upper Manhattan’s New York 13th District. and in a campaign that polls show is a toss-up. this single exchange may be doing far more than testing one phrase. It’s testing whether voters will accept Chevalier’s moral framework when the consequences are no longer abstract.

MISRYOUM Politics News United States politics immigration enforcement deportations DSA New York 13th district Adriano Espaillat Darializa Avila Chevalier Zohran Mamdani viral clip Astead Herndon Vox podcast