Mamdani Says ICE ‘Must Be Abolished’ After Federal Agent Shoots Man Near Child in NYC

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded for ICE to be “abolished” after a federal agent shot a man near a five-year-old child late Thursday afternoon.

Mamdani addressed the situation in a press conference Thursday evening, where he called the shooting “an outrage.”

“When ICE agents opened fire, a five-year-old child was in the back seat of the car. Thank god that child is physically unharmed,” Mamdani said as protesters chanted loudly in the background. “For the past two hours, I have been on the phone with President Trump and Secretary Mullin, negotiating the release of the man ICE agents shot. Those negotiations were unsuccessful. Just moments ago, ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away.”

“Let me say this plainly, what happened today was an outrage,” he continued. “Tonight, a five-year-old child gets traumatized and terrified. Tonight millions of our neighbors are wondering whether they will be safe on our streets, in our schools, at their work sites. Tonight, New Yorkers across the five boroughs are asking whether their civil liberties will be respected. Whether law and order is supposed to look like a man carrying a long gun wearing a mask.”

As Mamdani went on, he declared the agency “rotten to its core,” adding, “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 then declared that he would not “normalize” ICE’s “viciousness” or “cruelty.”

“ICE undermines public safety,” Mamdani further noted. “It makes us less safe. New York City will not stand by while ICE agents shoot New Yorkers. And we will not back down from the demand that so many, including myself, have put forward time and again. This is an agency that must be abolished.”

Watch Mamdani’s remarks below.

The mayor’s statement to the press echoed similar sentiments he made on X earlier in the evening, when he wrote: “This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”

He added: “Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children. Abolish ICE.”

A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Earlier Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security took to X and confirmed that, at 4 p.m., “ICE officers were conducting a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx, New York, to arrest a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic with a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs and weapons possession.”

The statement added: “During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured. ICE officers immediately rendered aid. The individual is alive and at a local hospital. The FBI and HSI are on the scene. The incident remains under investigation.”

Thursday’s incident marked the latest in a string of shootings by federal immigration agents amid Trump’s second term. Back in January, the agency faced immense criticism and scrutiny after agents fatally shot citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Minn. during an increase in enforcement in the area. Additionally, last month, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man making deliveries, was shot by an ICE officer in Austin, Tex.

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