“You don’t have to have papers to have power.”
That sentence was captured on hidden camera at a New York DSA meeting last week. The speaker was Diana Moreno — a Democratic Socialist politician who now holds Zohran Mamdani’s former state assembly seat. She is the living embodiment of the DSA’s electoral trajectory: Mamdani moves up, a DSA loyalist slides into his old seat, the movement expands one office at a time.
Matt Miller of PolitiBrawl went undercover with spy pens (how cool!) and recorded a full 14-minute video of the meeting. Moreno’s remarks were highlighted by LibsOfTikTok Monday: “There are so many ways in which illegals can be involved behind the scene. You don’t have to have papers to have power.”
INSANE
Undercover footage from inside a New York DSA meeting reveals they are using illegal aliens in their socialist movement to gain political power.
"There are so many ways in which [illegals] can be involved behind the scene… You don't have to have papers to have power."… pic.twitter.com/cgdSUoOcG3
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 10, 2026
Translation, stated plainly: the DSA views illegal aliens as political assets — people who can be organized, mobilized, and deployed in service of a socialist political agenda without the inconvenient requirement of being American citizens. Whether that means eventual voting, community organizing, or simply bodies showing up to events and demonstrations, the intent is explicit. People who entered the country illegally are being recruited into a socialist political operation.
Moreno herself noted that as a recent immigrant who became a citizen in 2016, she spent years as “a closeted socialist” who didn’t openly identify with the ideology. Those days are apparently over. The DSA’s growing confidence is one of the defining features of the 2026 political environment — they’re winning primaries, they’re holding offices, and now they’re being caught on camera explaining to audiences exactly how illegal immigration serves their political goals.
The broader context makes the recording more explosive, not less. Trump’s primetime address last month revealed Chinese interference across 220 million voter files. New Jersey admitted 6,600 noncitizens were registered to vote. A British national pleaded guilty to voting in five American elections. The SAVE America Act sits stalled in a Senate on recess. And now here is a DSA official on hidden camera explaining that political power doesn’t require documentation.
Chuck Schumer calls Democrats “a big-tent party” and insists it’s a strength, not a weakness. The relevant question is: for whom? The tent that was big enough for Schumer’s old-guard machine Democrats turns out to also be big enough for elected officials who recruit illegal aliens into socialist political operations. That’s the tent. Those are the tentmates.
The warning from conservative writer Stephen Green is the one worth heeding most carefully. Don’t let too much schadenfreude creep in watching the DSA devour the establishment Democrats who created the open-border environment that made this possible. Because if the DSA finishes what it’s started — kills the filibuster, packs the Supreme Court, makes DC and Puerto Rico states — might as well burn the Constitution.
“You don’t have to have papers to have power.” They said it out loud. On camera. In a meeting they thought was private. Believe them.
