Mullin rails against Mamdani: ‘His words are dangerous and incite hostility’

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin bashed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Friday for his response to a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) involved shooting in the city.

Mullin said Mamdani’s public statements are dangerous and that he is performing “political theater.”

“I am speaking facts; the mayor speaks with political tone,” Mullin said at a press conference Friday. “His words are dangerous and incite hostility; it doesn’t help.”

An ICE officer shot an immigrant — later identified as Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic — in the neck Thursday while he was driving with a 5-year-old child in the car. Belgal, who has a criminal record, was taken to an area hospital, and the child remains unharmed and with a family member.

Mamdani railed against ICE at a press conference Thursday night and said there was no explanation for the tactics used. The mayor said he spoke with President Trump and Mullin Thursday night in an attempt to get Belgal released but was unsuccessful.

Mullin said Trump agreed to release Belgal to New York Police Department (NYPD) custody if it was willing to pursue charges against him, but he said Mamdani did not agree. He said Belgal may have been in the U.S. for the past three years, during which he participated in “extensive criminal activity.”

Mamdani called for ICE to release body-camera footage of the incident. The NYPD on Friday released body-camera footage from its officers of the moments after the shooting .

Mullin went after the mayor for calling Belgal a New Yorker and criticized Mamdani’s statement that “ICE is rotten to the core.” Mamdani has called for the abolishment of ICE.

“Really? The men and women of ICE each day are enforcing the laws that he refuses to enforce,” Mullin said. “We arrest thousands weekly that are criminals, going after the worst of the worst, and he turns a blind eye to it.”

Mullin said ICE was serving a lawful order and that Belgal had evaded officers once before. He said ICE was not aware that the child was in the car during the encounter and that the officers involved will be put on administrative leave while it investigates the situation.

The secretary said Belgal did know the child was there when he accelerated his car to a “high speed” and that the public should blame him.

“The public outcry should be also toward this criminal, this thug, this gang-banger, this possible murderer,” Mullin said.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal pleaded guilty to grand larceny and that an investigation into the criminal sale of drugs involving Belgal is ongoing and had been taken over by federal agents.