Mamdani Demands ICE Leave New York After Agents Shoot Criminal Illegal Alien Who Accelerated Toward Them With Child in Car

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded an end to all Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city and repeated his call to abolish the agency after officers shot a 28-year-old Dominican national during a targeted arrest in Marble Hill on October 8.

The operation targeted Oscar Belgal, whom the Department of Homeland Security described as a criminal illegal alien with a prior conviction for grand larceny and prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons possession. DHS also alleged associations with the Trinitarios gang. Officers boxed in Belgal’s vehicle. Senior ICE official Marcos Charles said Belgal then accelerated toward the officers. At least one officer fired seven rounds, striking Belgal in the neck below the left ear. A 5-year-old boy in the back seat, believed to be Belgal’s son, was not injured. Charles said agents did not know a child was in the car when they fired. He said Belgal did know and chose to put the boy at risk by attempting to flee.

Mamdani held a late-night press conference near the scene. He said ICE agents “surrounded the man’s vehicle before opening fire,” that they “wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces,” and that “there was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.” He noted that school had just ended and the street was crowded with families and children. “When ICE agents opened fire, a 5-year-old child — a 5-year-old child — was in the back seat of the car,” he said. “Thank God that child is physically unharmed.”

Mamdani said he spent two hours on the phone with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “negotiating the release of the man ICE agents shot.” He said those negotiations were unsuccessful and that ICE then “put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away.” He called the shooting “an outrage.” He said ICE is “rotten to its core,” that it “operates with impunity,” that agents “sow chaos and terror across our country,” and that “they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save.” He stated, “We will not normalize ICE’s viciousness. We will not accept its cruelty. ICE undermines public safety. It makes us less safe. New York City will not stand by while ICE agents shoot New Yorkers. This is an agency that must be abolished.”

He demanded that agents “leave the scene entirely” and that ICE “stop its enforcement actions in New York City.” He said, “This city wants ICE out. We want ICE out of our city, ICE out of our schools, ICE out of our hospitals, ICE out of our streets, ICE away from our kids. We want that because we want to keep the city safe. We do not need them to do so. All they do is terrorize this city.” In an earlier post he wrote that ICE “makes this city less safe. We want them out. Now.” He also called the situation “unconscionable” and said he would demand that the president end all ICE enforcement in the city.

In subsequent comments Mamdani compared the agents’ appearance to that of a mass shooter. He said that “in that imagery, it is as if you’re almost looking at a mass shooter, as opposed to seeing someone who’s purportedly representing a federal agency.” He stated that the NYPD would not shoot at a moving vehicle and that agents in construction vests with long guns made a “mockery of what law and order is supposed to be.” He said he told Mullin there was no outstanding warrant for Belgal in New York City. He argued that ICE operations leave New York less safe and that New Yorkers want an end to the agency’s activities in the city.

Mullin responded that Mamdani’s words “are dangerous and incite hostility.” He called Belgal a “thug” and “the worst of the worst” and said the public outcry should be directed at Belgal for endangering the child. Mullin said the government offered to release Belgal if the NYPD took him into custody and that the mayor refused. He said sanctuary policies that release criminal illegal aliens force ICE officers to make arrests in the community. Gov. Kathy Hochul also called for a halt to ICE enforcement operations in the city and demanded answers from federal authorities. Protests formed after the shooting. The NYPD released body-camera footage of officers arriving after the shots. The department was not involved in the federal operation.

Belgal was treated at a hospital and taken into ICE custody. Lawyers later said he still had a bullet in his body. A federal judge issued a temporary order barring his removal from the United States while a detention challenge proceeds. The incident occurred during a period of increased ICE enforcement activity in New York. Mamdani has maintained his position that ICE should cease operations in the city and that the agency should be abolished.