Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday the city will launch an investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s shooting of a criminal illegal migrant and the NYPD’s response.
The democratic socialist mayor, who has previously called the federal agency “rotten to its core,” repeated a call for ICE to get out of the Big Apple and accused it of acting more like a terrorist organization than a law enforcement agency.
“The city is still dealing with having been terrorized by a rogue federal agency,” Mamdani seethed during an interview on MS Now.
Mamdani has been railing to “abolish” ICE and said he pushed his text buddy President Trump and his administration to pull its immigration agents out of New York in the wake of the shooting of Dominican Republic native Oscar Belgal, 28, who was hit in the neck while in a moving vehicle with his 5-year-old son in the backseat.
The illegal migrant shot by federal ICE agents in a chaotic Bronx showdown has also terrorized his former neighbors with a machete and had suspected ties to the violent Trinitarios street gang, authorities said.
Belgal’s rap sheet includes a 2023 grand larceny robbery conviction and an August 2025 arrest for allegedly selling lethal drugs like fentanyl, cocaine and heroin.
But Mamdani said the migrant was “hurting” after getting shot in the neck while his 5-year-old son was “traumatized.”
The mayor claimed ICE agents shielding themselves in construction vests and shooting at a vehicle in “broad daylight” was beyond the pale.
“It feels as if you’re looking at a mass shooter as opposed to seeing some purportedly representing a federal agency,” Mamdani said.
“What New Yorkers want to see is the end of ICE activities across our city. In New York City it is not acceptable to be firing at a moving vehicle …to be shooting at a car where there is a 5-year-old in it.
“There’s a reason why the NYPD would not be shooting at a moving vehicle,” he added.
Mamdani admitted his two hours of discussions with Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin regarding the ICE shooting resulted in a standoff.
Talks will continue, he said.
“The secretary did not think ICE did anything wrong,” the mayor said.
He refused to detain Belgal because there was no warrant for his arrest.
“They’re making a mockery of what law and order is supposed to be, and then they want us to justify their actions for them,” Mamdani claimed.
Mamdani said his administration, and particularly the NYPD, will conduct a review of what transpired during the 24-hour period of the ICE shooting, the police response and the handling of protests.
The investigation will include how a Target parking lot was used as a staging area for ICE, he said.
“We will use every tool at our disposal to keep New York safe,” he said.
He said 70% of illegal migrants detained by ICE do not have criminal records, yet the agency is “ripping families apart.”
“Trusting ICE’s word is a fool’s errand. It’s rinse and repeat,” Mamdani said. “I am demanding ICE cease operations in the city immediately. It leaves New York less safe.”
