“Abolish ICE”: Protests Erupt in NYC After ICE Agents Shoot Father With 5-Year-Old Son in Car

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By Amy Goodman, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Carmen De La Rosa, Democracy Now!

Protests have erupted in New York City after a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in the Bronx on Thursday afternoon. As masked agents reportedly posing as construction workers attempted to arrest 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, they opened fire on his car. Belgal was shot in the neck. His 5-year-old child, who was in the back seat, was physically unharmed. Belgal was taken to a local hospital, where hundreds, including our guests, Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier and New York City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa, gathered to demand his release.

“What we saw yesterday was a prime example of why [ICE] is a terror to our communities, why it should not exist,” says Avila Chevalier. She was among multiple people assaulted by officers with the NYPD unit that specializes in protest policing, known as the Strategic Response Group (SRG). Four others were arrested at Thursday evening’s protest. Avila Chevalier, who was knocked down to the ground by officers, says, “This is why we also must demand that we get rid of and disband the SRG, because this type of response should have never happened for folks who were just simply trying to protect their neighbor.”

“I personally witnessed the NYPD escalating aggressively towards our community, barricading the community in … I also witnessed NYPD helping the ICE vehicles whisk away our neighbors and come in and out of the hospital,” adds De La Rosa.

“We have become less safe with the presence of ICE, and we need to make sure that we are actually upholding the sanctuary policies of the city. There is no reason why NYPD should be collaborating this way,” says Avila Chevalier.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, today, Juan, we’re going to be talking about your old neighborhood uptown in Manhattan. Protests erupted in New York City on Thursday after a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man in his vehicle in the Marble Hill neighborhood of northern Manhattan. Seven shots rang out in quick succession just after 4 p.m. on a crowded street as people walked home from work or accompanied their children home from school. Twenty-eight-year-old Oscar Belgal was struck in the neck. His 5-year-old child was in the back seat of the car.

Belgal was taken to the nearby Columbia Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where hundreds of protesters gathered to demand his release, chanting ”ICE off our streets now!” and “We want justice!” New York police arrested four people, assaulted others, including congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who was knocked to the ground. She’ll join us in a minute.

In a late-night news conference, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he called President Trump and spoke to him for two hours, and also talked to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to negotiate Belgal’s release, but was unsuccessful.

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Around 4 p.m. this afternoon, a New Yorker was shot by ICE agents in Marble Hill. Many of the facts surrounding this shooting are still unclear. ICE agents surrounded the man’s vehicle before opening fire. They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.

School had just gotten out. The street was crowded with families and children. When ICE agents opened fire, a 5-year-old child — a 5-year-old child — was in the back seat of the car. Thank God, that child is physically unharmed.

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. I stand here not just as the mayor of our city, but as someone who is proud to be an immigrant in our city. And I know that these kinds of raids, this kind of terrorizing of this city, leaves the 3 million immigrants of this city asking if they are safe here, if they belong here, if this, too, can be their home here.

We will not normalize ICE’s viciousness. We will not accept its cruelty. We know, and I have said this directly, whether to the president or to the public, ICE undermines public safety. 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.

AMY GOODMAN: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani late last night at a news conference.

We’re joined now by two guests who were also on the scene last night. New York City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa represents Marble Hill, Inwood and Washington Heights. And we’re joined by Darializa Avila Chevalier. She’s the Democratic candidate for Congress representing Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

I mean, to say the least, it was heated last night. I was there with Democracy Now!‘s Nicole Salazar. Let me turn to Darializa Avila Chevalier. Can you talk about what you’re demanding right now? As you participated in the news conference, then you marched to the hospital, hundreds were there. And then, what happened to you?

DARIALIZA AVILA CHEVALIER: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you, Amy, so much for having me. I had hoped that the next time we would get to speak would be under happier circumstances. But frankly, I’ve just been feeling enraged since yesterday, and it has been hard to process all that has happened and transpired.

You know, when we were at the press conference, we were calling very clearly, all of the elected officials, for the abolishment of ICE. This is an agency that should have never existed to begin with. And what we saw yesterday was a prime example of why it is a terror to our communities, why it should not exist. It undermines public safety. It makes our communities feel terrorized by their own government. And we need to make sure that such an agency never comes to pass and never exists again.

The fact that there were so many agents, ICE agents, HSI agents, federal agents, on the scene — the NYPD was not giving elected officials much information once we were on the scene to try to understand what had happened, whether or not the child was safe, the fact that it took so long for us to to get confirmation of those details, you know, all of that undermines public safety. Folks were scared, and rightfully so.

You know, it was — Senator Gustavo Rivera and I had to go behind HSI agents, Homeland Security Investigation agents, because they were going door to door asking neighbors for, quote-unquote, “evidence,” asking them about their video cameras, asking them for more information. And we had to go behind the HSI agents to let folks know that they were under no obligation to open the door, that they were under no obligation to speak to any of these agents without a warrant. And so, I want New Yorkers to know, if you see someone, even though it says “police,” if it’s not a warrant, if they do not have a warrant, they do not have to open the door or speak to any of these agents. They will pretend to be NYPD police. They are not. You do not have to open the door to them.

We, you know, went over to the press conference after that, called for abolishing ICE, called for the release of the person who had been shot, and for answers and accountability, and meaningful accountability. Unfortunately, what I saw was NYPD escalating the situation where protesters were outside of the hospital trying to make sure that ICE wasn’t leaving with our neighbor. And, you know, they continued to escalate the situation. As I was trying to deescalate and telling them that the barricades were not necessary, that folks were calm, you know, the tensions continued to rise, and police became more aggressive and, at one point, shoved me and others to the ground.

You know, there were four arrests that happened yesterday. Those were completely unnecessary. The escalation, you know, was completely unnecessary. And this is why we also must demand that we get rid of and disband the SRG, because this type of response should have never happened for folks who were just simply trying to protect their neighbor.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I’d like to ask Councilwoman Carmen De La Rosa — I know this neighborhood well. I lived in Inwood, a few blocks away from there, for nearly 20 years. Especially around where this happened, this is a highly congested area, especially in the afternoon, at 4:00 in the afternoon, people coming out of the train station, a big mall right next door to there. Haven’t you and other public officials complained about — previously about ICE using a Target right there in that mall to gather their forces and to go out on sweeps?

CARMEN DE LA ROSA: Yes, there’s been an escalating sightings of ICE at the Target parking lot, which is private property. Myself and the surrounding elected officials have come together to demand that the owner of the property stop allowing ICE onto his property. We’ve been told that they would discontinue any presence of ICE at the parking lot. Unfortunately, we continue to see ICE there. And it has also been the scene of neighbors protesting that presence of ICE. But we’ve also seen ICE in our local parks. We’ve seen ICE sightings and congregating at Van Cortlandt Park and Inwood Hill Park. And this is the result of that escalating presence and unnecessary presence of ICE in our communities.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how did the New York City Police Department deal with you as compared to the ICE agents and the federal authorities?

CARMEN DE LA ROSA: As Darializa just said, the information coming from the NYPD was vague at best. I personally witnessed the NYPD escalating aggressively towards our community, barricading the community in, pressing barricades against our neighbors as they tried to make sure that their rights, their civil rights to protest, to show up, to speak up, were were being violated. And unfortunately, I also witnessed NYPD helping the ICE vehicles whisk away our neighbors and come in and out of the hospital. So, in my opinion, although we have been told that NYPD does not collaborate, there is a perception of, at the very least, coordinating efforts for ICE’s entrance and exits into our hospital.

AMY GOODMAN: Darializa Avila Chevalier, witnesses have said that the ICE agent used what appeared to be a long gun, a large semi-automatic assault rifle. Can you talk about using a high-powered weapon as children are leaving school? And what does it mean for the city and also the state of New York to be a sanctuary city and state?

DARIALIZA AVILA CHEVALIER: You know, Amy, I cannot think of any good reason why such a weapon would be in our city at all, held by anybody, and the fact that these — these cowboys, who think they can just be above the law, are shooting into our streets, not asking who is around, shooting into a car that had a 5-year-old child in it. That child is so traumatized now because they just witnessed their — his father be shot by these agents.

You know, when we arrived at the scene, I asked the officers whether it was a crime scene because of the crash or a crime scene because of the shooting. And they told — the NYPD told me that it was a crime scene because of the shooting, and yet they could not tell us whether the shooter had been apprehended, who the shooter was. No information was given to us.

And so, to Carmen’s point, the vagueness of this really forces us to ask whether the silence here is not also complicity in ICE’s actions. The fact that, you know, we saw agents change clothes, we were trying to figure out, identify which agency they were with, and no information was being given to elected officials at all levels of government. It was truly astonishing, as I was making my way over to the hospital, to see, you know, an unmarked car, which had police lights, heading south, and police, NYPD police, pushing protesters, physically pushing protesters, out of the street as the car was ramming into people before speeding away. It is truly shocking. And, you know, the levels of violence, not just from the fact that the ICE agent had a weapon of that magnitude, but the use of the vehicles that were running into our neighbors, all of that, all of that, is an affront to the notion that this has anything to do with public safety. We have become less safe with the presence of ICE, and we need to make sure that we are actually upholding the sanctuary policies of the city. There is no reason why NYPD should be collaborating this way, even just by standing around. That, in itself, is complicity in this.

And, you know, I was actually very disgusted to hear Commissioner Tisch’s remarks yesterday, because just a few hours prior, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams reminded us that the way that the victim would be spoken about would be in a demonizing way, and just a few hours later, that is what Police Commissioner Tisch did. There was no reason for her to read out, you know, this person’s past contact with police. There was no justification for anything that transpired that afternoon. And for her to do that was symboling that there are some occasions under which that is OK. There is no occasion under which this is OK. There is no excuse for allowing ICE to come into our city to shoot seven bullets into cars where there are children. It is just an outrage, and I truly have no words for just how enraging everything that transpired last night was.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Democratic candidate in New York’s 13th Congressional District, and I want to thank New York City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa.

Coming up, the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African-born jurist and human rights activist. Stay with us.

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AMY GOODMAN: “La Jura,” “The Oath,” by Chicano Batman, performing in our Democracy Now! studio.