“Abolish ICE”: Mamdani, AOC and other Democrats call for action after New York shootings | new York

Top Democrats in New York expressed anger and demanded a reduction in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence after a federal agent shot a man driving a car his five-year-old son was sitting in, sparking violent protests.

At least seven shots were reportedly fired and the man was shot in the neck Thursday afternoon as children walked home from school in New York’s bustling Marble Hill neighborhood.

Federal authorities identified Oscar Belgal Friday morning as the man shot, saying he was undocumented, from the Dominican Republic and had a criminal record and gang affiliations.

Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, said Belgal refused to get out of his car when he was approached by federal agents trying to arrest him, then accelerated, struck two ICE vehicles and drove toward other agents. An ICE officer then shot Belgal and Charles said the wound was “superficial.”

The footage shows a man wearing a high-visibility construction vest, possibly with a badge on a lanyard, carrying an assault rifle and standing near Belgal, who is sitting in the street, while another officer appears to hold his hand at his neck and shoulders.

Shortly thereafter, uniformed New York police officers carried the man to an unmarked car and placed him in the back seat, handcuffed behind his back.

But New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani – all Democrats – strongly condemned ICE’s conduct.

Darializa Avila Chevalier, the New York Democratic candidate, rushed toward the protests and was knocked down in the chaos as local police and demonstrators clashed.

The injured man was conscious and hospitalized, authorities said.

Mamdani called the incident “unconscionable” and said Thursday evening that ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), had “taken away” him from New York’s Allen Presbyterian Hospital in northern Manhattan.

A similar incident occurred in Texas last month after a man was shot by an ICE officer in Austin and, despite a bullet lodged in his back, was taken by federal authorities from a local hospital to an ICE detention facility about 140 miles away.

Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani have demanded the defunding of ICE.

Hochul and Mamdani spoke by phone Thursday evening with Donald Trump and Markwayne Mullin, the secretary of Homeland Security.

“I was on the phone with President Trump and Secretary Mullin to negotiate the release of the man shot by ICE agents. Those negotiations failed,” Mamdani said at a news conference. He asked the Trump administration that ICE end its enforcement actions in New York. “ICE is rotten to the core,” he said.

ICE has ramped up arrests throughout the year, despite a mass withdrawal of Minneapolis’ militarized ranks in January and adoption of a more covert approach to enforcement.

Both Hochul and Mamdani demanded that ICE cease its screening operations in New York, and the governor said she expressed outrage at the Trump administration on behalf of all New Yorkers. Hochul added that the incident could easily have ended in tragedy.

“No child should have to endure the terror of gunshots,” she said. The child was being looked after by his family on Friday.

The streets where the shootings and protests took place were calm Friday morning, but many residents remained shocked and angry.

“Here’s an innocent child who was caught in the crossfire,” said South Bronx native Calvin Hayden. “This child could have been killed.” Hayden heard about the shooting the night before and said he was immediately disturbed. He came to Marble Hill, the northernmost part of Manhattan, to see the consequences.

“I don’t believe ICE has any reason or right to be present in New York,” he said, adding that he believes New York is already equipped to handle immigration disputes on its own without ICE’s presence.

“Many people don’t commit crimes and just want to have a better life,” he said.

Some drivers on 225th Street shouted anti-ICE sentiments as they drove past the scene.

Mullin said Friday morning that the ICE agents involved in the shooting did not know there was a child in the vehicle and defended the agency’s actions. But he pointed out that Belgal obviously would have known the child was in his car when he drove it to the police. The exact sequence of events leading to the shooting is not yet clear.

Mullin said Hochul asked DHS for a pause on law enforcement in New York.

“No, we’re not putting a break on enforcement,” he said.

Mullin criticized New York’s “sanctuary” policies, which limit the cooperation of city agencies and police with immigration authorities.

Belgal, 28, has prior convictions, was serving five years of probation for felony grand theft and was also arrested on drug charges in 2025, a case that is still ongoing, according to the NYPD.

“What happened today is an outrage,” Mamdani said Thursday evening, adding, “When the ICE agents opened fire, a five-year-old child – a five-year-old child! – was in the back seat of that car. Thank God that child is physically unharmed.”

Witnesses told local media they heard the child shouting at officers after the shooting. At least 20 people were shot and killed by federal immigration agents during the second Trump administration, along with an increase in deaths in custody.

“ICE is a rogue, illegal, paramilitary surveillance agency. It has no place in New York and it should not exist in the United States of America. Abolish ICE,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.

The representative also condemned the retail company Target for allowing federal law enforcement teams to use its parking lots as staging areas from which to launch arrest operations.

Protesters held signs saying, “Jail All Killer ICE Agents” and “Leave Our Neighbors Alone.”

“ICE, get the hell out of our neighborhood,” shouted Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson. “I’m angry because we have to be here…We’re a working-class community. We don’t deserve this type of treatment from the White House.” She encouraged the crowd to get involved in opposing ICE, saying, “We outnumber them. I want this to be a moment where we become a movement.”

Protesters gathered at the hospital where Belgal was taken. Police set up barricades and protesters quickly clashed with officers in a chaotic scene.

Protesters banged drums and shouted, “Stop it” and “ICE out!” » while passing cars honked in support.

Standing outside the hospital, Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, said he wanted to see an independent investigation into the shooting led by New York officials.

“The pain you’re witnessing is the pain of people seeing their neighbors, their family members, their friends being taken away,” he said.

ICE arrested more than 19,500 people in New York and nearly 18,000 in New Jersey during the second Trump administration, most of them Latino immigrants with no criminal history, Gothamist reported earlier this week using government data, adding that those totals were more than double the number of such arrests during the last 18 months of the Biden administration.

Lex McMenamin and Joanna Walters contributed reporting