New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Thursday night forcefully condemned the shooting of a man by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, calling the tactics indefensible and demanding that federal agents halt operations in the city.
“There is no explanation for these tactics. There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a five-year-old in the car. There is no explanation,” Mamdani said at a press conference, visibly frustrated.
The mayor also criticized the disguised nature of the operation, noting that officers were wearing construction vests and masks while carrying long guns. “Residents have no idea if these are law enforcement agents or if they are simply attacking someone on the street,” he said, echoing concerns raised by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch earlier in the briefing.
Mamdani revealed that he had directly contacted President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to demand that ICE leave the scene and stop enforcement actions in New York. He described the two-hour call as an attempt to negotiate the release of the wounded man, but said those efforts were “unsuccessful.”
The incident unfolded around 4 p.m. EDT in the Marble Hill neighborhood, where an ICE agent attempted to arrest 28-year-old Oscar Belgal. Belgal was sitting in a car with his 5-year-old son in the backseat when at least one agent fired seven rounds, striking Belgal in the neck below his left ear. The child was unharmed and is now with a relative.
DHS defended the operation, stating on social media that it was a “targeted enforcement operation” against a man with a prior grand larceny conviction and multiple arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons offenses. The department confirmed Belgal is alive and hospitalized.
The shooting comes as the Trump administration has escalated federal immigration enforcement in so-called sanctuary cities, including New York. ICE has made record numbers of arrests in recent months, topping 50,000 in both July and August, according to the Deportation Data Project. Since Trump’s return to office, federal agents have shot at least 20 people, seven fatally.
Critics, including Mamdani, argue that such tactics endanger public safety. The mayor’s call for ICE to leave New York aligns with his broader criticism of federal enforcement in Democratic-led cities. The incident also adds to a growing list of shootings involving ICE agents that have sparked legal challenges, such as the lawsuit filed by the family of Renee Good after a fatal ICE shooting.
As the investigation continues, Mamdani’s demand for a complete withdrawal of ICE from New York City signals a deepening standoff between local authorities and the federal government over immigration enforcement tactics.
