New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has demanded that US President Donald Trump end Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the city after a federal immigration agent shot and injured a man in the Bronx while his five-year-old child was inside the car.“I am angry tonight. Because today ICE shot a New Yorker. They shot a New Yorker while his five-year-old child was in the car. ICE makes this city less safe. We want them out. Now,” Mamdani said in a video message following Thursday’s shooting.Mamdani said he had called Trump and would demand that the president end all ICE enforcement actions in New York City. “I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities,” he said in a statement.The mayor also called for ICE to be abolished and criticised the agency’s operations in the city.Speaking at a press conference later on Thursday, Mamdani said he had spoken with Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for about two hours but had failed to secure the release of the injured man.The shooting took place around 4 pm in Marble Hill, a residential neighbourhood in the Bronx. According to New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch, federal immigration agents were conducting a targeted operation to take a man identified as 28-year-old Oscar Belgal into custody.Belgal was inside a vehicle with a five-year-old boy, whom police believe to be his son, when the confrontation unfolded. Tisch said a plainclothes federal agent approached the driver’s side window with his gun drawn, while another agent stood near the vehicle’s headlight. The vehicle then moved forward, prompting at least one ICE agent to fire seven rounds, striking Belgal in the neck below his left ear.Police said the injured man was taken to New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in stable condition. The child was safe and had been placed in the care of a family member.Mamdani criticised the use of gunfire around a child. “There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a five-year-old,” he said at the press conference.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said an ICE officer had discharged his weapon during the operation and that agents immediately provided medical assistance to the injured man. The department described Belgal as an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a prior conviction for grand larceny and multiple arrests. It also alleged that he had ties to the Trinitarios gang.The shooting drew criticism from other New York leaders. Governor Kathy Hochul said she had spoken with Trump and Mullin and urged them to halt ICE enforcement operations in the city. She also called for the release of any body-camera footage to establish what happened.Representative Ritchie Torres called the firing of multiple rounds into a car carrying a child “abhorrent and indefensible”, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the incident as deeply disturbing and called for an independent investigation.The incident has renewed tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies in New York. Mamdani, a vocal critic of ICE who has backed calls to abolish the agency, and Trump have maintained a relatively cordial public relationship despite their sharp differences over immigration. Source link Post Views: 8 Post navigation Free Soul: A UK founder and his mother burned through £15,000 developing a vegan supplement, then fitted kitchens to fund their first stock; Free Soul now turns over £55 million a year and employs 50 ‘When Amazon hired me on H-1B…’: Indian university co-founder wishes good luck to US without ‘indentured servants’
