The Democratic Socialists of America are urging Mayor Zohran Mamdani to dismiss NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch after ICE agents opened fire during a controversial operation in the Bronx last week.
In a sharply worded statement posted online, the DSA called on its most prominent member to remove the city’s top police official and dismantle two specialized NYPD units.
“We demand that Mayor Zohran Mamdani fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and use every power available to him to drive ICE out of New York City,” the group said.
The organization also called for the elimination of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group and Community Response Teams.
The DSA’s demands followed a Thursday confrontation in Marble Hill, where federal immigration agents surrounded Oscar Belgal, a suspected gang member, and fired multiple rounds into his vehicle. Belgal was wounded in the neck while his 5-year-old son was seated in the back.
At a press briefing later that day, Tisch said the NYPD had not participated in the operation. She also said Belgal, who has been identified as an alleged member of the Trinitarios street gang, had a criminal record that included robbery and drug-distribution charges.
DSA congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier called for Tisch’s resignation the following day, accusing the commissioner of shielding what she described as a “militia” of armed ICE agents.
During an interview with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, Chevalier said Belgal’s criminal record “doesn’t even matter” and accused the NYPD of portraying the Dominican immigrant as a villain.
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Mamdani addressed Chevalier’s remarks during a Sunday appearance on MS Now but offered no indication that he planned to remove Tisch. He has said his administration will review the police response to the shooting and the protests that followed.
“The NYPD was not at the scene when the incident took place, when ICE shot at Mr. Belgal and his 5-year-old son in the car,” Mamdani said.
He said the department received a 911 call, responded to the location and transported Belgal to a nearby hospital.
“What I will be doing with the police commissioner is a review of that entire 24-hour period,” Mamdani said.
Although he said the Strategic Response Group played no role in either the shooting or the subsequent response, Mamdani reaffirmed his intention to disband the unit.
Mamdani told The New York Times on Friday that “there are no plans” to change the NYPD’s leadership.
“And I want to be very clear that our administration, alongside the commissioner, alongside the PD, will review all of the events of the last 24 hours, including ICE’s shooting, the Police Department’s response to that incident and the ensuing protest, the staging of ICE operations in privately owned parking lots, and every action the city can take to protect New Yorkers from ICE’s terror,” he told the Times.
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