Congresswoman Demands ICE Leave NYC After Shooting of Dominican Immigrant

NEW YORK, New York – Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke on Friday demanded that agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency leave New York City after an ICE agent shot an undocumented Dominican Republic national in the Marble Hill section of Manhattan.

Law enforcement authorities said the unidentified agent shot Oscar Belgal, 28, in the neck on Thursday afternoon as ICE agents sought to detain him, with his five-year-old son in the back of his car.

“For nearly two long and painful years, Americans have watched in helpless horror as our neighbours continue to be stolen from their homes and shot in the street by agents of the Trump administration,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who represents Brooklyn’s 9th Congressional District, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

“Last night’s attempted murder of a New Yorker in front of his five-year-old son was far from the first disgraceful incident of its kind, but it must be the last,” added Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). “We demand that ICE leave our city immediately, and we are too disgusted to accept any delay.”

Clarke said she had fought against the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to ICE, arguing that the agency’s actions under President Donald Trump were predictable.

“In fact, these depravities are the only promise Donald Trump has kept, serving as more red meat for his MAGA followers,” she said.

“Every incident is just another dreadful reminder of the resources that could have been spent positioning our society towards a brighter future – not pulling the darkest chapters of our past back to the present.”

Clarke described ICE as “nothing more than a vigilante weapon for the white nationalists to tear away at our multiracial democracy”.

“It is a rogue agency, built by and for broken men,” she said. “The only path forward is to rip that power away entirely, before ICE has any opportunity to further its relentless escalation of violence and despair in America.”

She called on US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose department oversees ICE, to “immediately remove ICE from sanctuary cities like New York City and all others his agents have invaded”.

“The choice is his; however, the power is ours,” Clarke said, urging people to vote in the November 3 midterm elections.

The CBC also condemned the shooting in a statement on Friday, arguing that the growing presence of immigration enforcement officers in communities was not about public safety or enforcing the law.

“It is about stoking fear in Black and brown communities,” the caucus said. “It is about sending a message to our communities that our lives, safety, and security do not matter.”

The CBC said the incident, in which Belgal was shot and handcuffed in the street with his five-year-old child in the car, was deeply disturbing and should not become normalised.

“We cannot and will not turn a blind eye to this abuse of power by the Trump administration,” it said, calling for the officers involved to be held accountable.

The caucus also demanded that Mullin end vehicle stops in civil immigration enforcement and that arrest quotas, which it said had contributed to racial profiling and unnecessary, often violent encounters, be abolished.

The CBC said it would continue working with civil rights groups to remove ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers from the streets. It added that Democrats would seek to hold the administration accountable if they regained the majority in Congress.

In a joint statement, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, whose father is from Trinidad and Tobago, condemned the shooting and expressed concern about the conduct of immigration officers.

“We pray for the victim and for his young family,” they said.

The borough presidents said Belgal had been taken from hospital by ICE officers hours after the shooting and reportedly transferred to a detention facility outside New York State.

They also criticised what they described as officers operating with impunity, including allegedly disguising themselves in plain clothes and carrying military-style assault rifles on city streets.

They called for an independent and transparent investigation and the release of body-camera footage.

“New York is a city of immigrants – and despite Donald Trump’s best efforts, we will never back down from standing up for our immigrant neighbours,” they said. “It is long past time for ICE to get out of New York City.”

Faiza N. Ali, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, also condemned the shooting.

“Seven shots. In broad daylight. On a residential street, as children were coming home from school. ICE agents opened fire on a New Yorker with his five-year-old child in the backseat. This is outrageous. It is unacceptable. And it should never happen in our city,” Ali said on Friday.

She said no parent should have to fear that picking up a child from school could end with the child witnessing the parent being shot.

“No family should have to live with the fear that going to work, walking down the street or simply going about their lives could mean being detained, separated or harmed by the very agents who claim to keep us safe,” Ali added. “But that is the reality ICE is imposing on our communities.”

Ali said the shooting showed that ICE’s actions were making immigrant communities less safe and called for an end to the agency’s enforcement operations in New York City.

“We demand accountability for this shooting. And we demand an end to ICE enforcement in New York City,” she said, pledging to use every available means to protect residents regardless of their birthplace or immigration status.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also called for a full and transparent investigation.

“New Yorkers are grappling with horror and outrage,” James said. “They deserve nothing less than a full and transparent investigation conducted without fear or favour.”

She added that she had full faith in Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.

On Thursday, Caribbean immigration advocates in New York also expressed outrage over the shooting.