Mayor Mamdani blasts ICE over last week's shooting in NYC: "They are making a mockery of what law and order is supposed to be"
Mayor Zohran Mamdani didn't hold back on Sunday when he spoke about last week's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting in northern Manhattan.
He reiterated his stance that not only should ICE not be active in New York City, it shouldn't exist all, adding New Yorkers are still coping with trauma from the shooting.
"We are talking about individuals in construction vests and long guns. If you see that image as a New Yorker walking on the street, how would you know this is a federal agent?" Mamdani said on MS NOW on Sunday morning.
Mamdani slammed the response from ICE officers who ambushed 28-year-old Oscar Bergal in the Marble Hill neighborhood while he was sitting in his vehicle with his 5-year-old son.
Surveillance footage shows the moment one of those agents opens fire through the windshield, striking Bergal in the neck.
"They are making a mockery of what law and order is supposed to be and then they want us to try to justify their actions for them," Mamdani said.
The mayor also said that he was on the phone with both President Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for two hours on Thursday night in an attempt to negotiate Bergal's release. Mamdani said he informed the secretary that there was no outstanding warrant for Bergal in New York City.
"When I brought that up to the secretary the secretary went into the same kind of language that you've heard from the secretary since, which is implications of criminality on the basis of evidence that will likely never be released," Mamdani said.
DHS said Bergal is in the country illegally from the Dominican Republic with ties to the Trinitarios gang and has a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, along with multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, and weapons possession.
Court documents show Bergal was arrested August 2025 for selling cocaine and fentanyl in Manhattan. The prosecutor's office says it appears he had been let out on supervised release.
Appearing on CNN on Sunday, Mullin defended the ICE agents' actions in Marble Hill.
"He knew exactly who we were. He decided to flee once again like he'd done before," Mullin said. "The truth is this guy was an awful human being. He was a thug. He was a gangbanger."
Despite that, critics are taking issue with the tactics used by ICE agents in his case, and others.
"What concerns me and frankly former colleagues of mine at ICE is that we are seeing this particular unit engaging in tactics that are outside of their experience and outside of their training," said John Sandwed, ICE's former acting general counsel.
"The language that they use to describe the people that they are trying to detain is language that might be better suited to describe who they are and what they are doing," Mamdani said.
A recent CBS News review found that federal immigration agents have killed nine and injured 13 others in at least 30 shootings during the second Trump administration. Mullin seemingly blamed Bergal for putting his own son in danger on Thursday.
"The last thing I would've done is put my son or one of my kids in danger. He chose to accelerate," Mullin said.
Mamdani also said he is currently working with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on a full review of Thursday's shooting, adding he will continue conversations with the Trump administration with the goal of ceasing future ICE activity in New York City.
