Mamdani says ‘this city wants ICE out,’ following shooting

Flanked by fellow elected officials, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded that President Donald Trump immediately cease all U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the city after a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in northern Manhattan on Thursday afternoon.

“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,” Mamdani said at a press conference late Thursday in Marble Hill, close to where the shooting took place. “We want that because we want to keep the city safe. We do not need them to do so – all they do is terrorize the city.”

The mayor said he had been on the phone with Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate for the 28-year-old man’s release. As of 11:30 p.m., the man remained in ICE custody, according to Mamdani.

The man, identified by city officials as Oscar Belgal, was shot by an ICE agent a little after 4 p.m. in the largely residential neighborhood. Federal immigration authorities surrounded the man’s vehicle, which also carried a 5-year-old boy believed to be Belgal’s son in the backseat, before firing seven rounds, according to the mayor and New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

“They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces,” Mamdani said. “There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.”

Belgal was taken to New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital where he arrived in stable condition. The child was reportedly unharmed.

“There is no explanation for these tactics. There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a 5-year-old,” Mamdani said. “There is no explanation. We are standing here, so close to the site of where this actually took place, and look at how many people live right here.”

Tisch said the agency had no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting, nor were any police officers on scene at the time. She added that Belgal had two previous arrests in New York City, one for robbery in 2023 – a case in which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years’ probation – and one for the criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2025, which is pending.

A slew of elected officials swiftly condemned the shooting. Like Mamdani, Gov. Kathy Hochul also said she spoke with the president about the shooting. In an online post, she wrote that she’d expressed “outrage on behalf of New Yorkers” and urged the Trump administration to end ICE operations in the state.

Earlier in the evening, several elected officials including Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Democratic congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier, who ousted him in June’s primary, New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa and New York Immigration Coalition President and CEO Murad Awawdeh held an initial press conference near the same location.

By Thursday evening, protesters had gathered around the scene of the shooting and outside of the hospital where the man had been taken. Video shared on social media of the latter showed what appeared to be a chaotic clash between protesters and the NYPD.

As Mamdani appeared at the late press conference, a small group of protesters chanted “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA.” Following the presser, at which Mamdani took just two questions and only Tisch joined him in speaking, a small group of protesters remained.

In a statement, the Trump administration appears to be doubling down on its actions, providing zero justification for why the shooting occurred.

“When dangerous illegal aliens are released back onto the streets by radical sanctuary politicians, our officers are forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement posted on X. “Our officers should not have to risk their lives, and innocent Americans should not have to face unnecessary danger, because sanctuary politicians refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement.”

The shooting comes just a few weeks after Mamdani hosted Trump at Gracie Mansion, continuing what’s been an unexpectedly cozy relationship between the two leaders despite their vastly different politics. While Mamdani has insisted that his diplomatic stance toward the president has been advantageous for New Yorkers, Thursday’s shooting of an immigrant New Yorker is likely to strain their dynamic – and will test the extent to which the mayor is able to leverage something from that relationship.

Mamdani called Thursday’s shooting a “microcosm of what ICE does on a daily basis across this country.” At least two dozen people have been shot by ICE agents as part of Trump’s deportation campaign since he took office in January 2025, according to The New York Times. Six of those individuals were killed, the majority of whom were struck by federal immigration agents shooting at their vehicles.

“Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save,” Mamdani said, adding, “This is an agency that must be abolished.”