Government criticises mayor of New York for advocating abolition of the ECI

O u.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Friday for arguing that the federal immigration police (ICE) leave the metropolis after an agent of this shoot an individual.

“ His statements are dangerous and incite hostility”, accused the Republican politician at a press conference in which he defended the performance of the ICE.

Mullin reported that the 28-year-old man, wounded on Thursday in an operation in the Bronx neighborhood, had an extensive criminal record and was attempting to escape arrest.

Oscar Belgal, who was hospitalized with a superficial neck wound, “came to this country legally some years ago and since then (...) has committed crime after crime,” the deputy added.

He also said that the ICE agents did not know that when they opened fire there was a five-year-old child in the car next to Belgal, who was not injured.

Democrat Edil Zohran Mamdani condemned the operation and announced that he would ask President Donald Trump to suspend ICE operations in New York.

“We will abolish the ICE”, he promised in a message published in the X.

In response, Mullin asked Mamdani 'who will take criminals off the streets' in New York if the ICE is abolished. “Who will deal with murderers, thieves and gang members?”, said.

At the press conference, Marcos Charles, an ICE officer, said that Belgal “refused to obey regulatory orders to leave the vehicle.” “Then he accelerated, colliding with two of our official vehicles, and used his vehicle as a weapon by continuing to accelerate towards other agents,” he described.

“ Our agents, using their training and believing that their lives, those of their colleagues and those of the public were in danger, put into practice the training received and opened fire,” Carlos added.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the scene of the shooting on Thursday to protest the repressive immigration policy of the Trump administration.

Several other interventions by federal agents provoked indignation this year, especially after the shooting of two American citizens in Minneapolis.

New York City has a tense relationship with the federal immigration police, with which cooperation is limited to the maximum.