Democratic Socialists are demanding that Mayor Zohran Mamdani dismiss NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch after an ICE shooting in the Bronx left a suspected gang member wounded in front of his five-year-old son.
The revolt has put Mamdani at odds with the left-wing coalition that helped carry him to City Hall. Activists say his administration has not done enough to challenge President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In a sharply worded statement, the Democratic Socialists of America called for Tisch’s immediate removal and urged the city to 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 organization said.
The group also wants the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group and Community Response Teams abolished, intensifying the broader fight over policing, protest response and federal immigration enforcement.
Mamdani, however, has resisted the pressure. Although he has promised a sweeping review of the shooting and the disorder that followed, he has said he does not intend to replace Tisch.
The dispute erupted after federal immigration agents shot 28-year-old Dominican national Oscar Belgal during an attempted arrest in the Bronx’s Marble Hill neighborhood last Thursday.
Belgal was struck in the neck while his terrified five-year-old son was sitting in the vehicle’s back seat.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch speaks while Mayor Zohran Mamdani stands behind her last week. Democratic Socialists want Mamdani to fire her after the Bronx ICE shooting
Police-worn body-camera footage released by the NYPD shows law enforcement personnel tending to Oscar Belgal, 28, a Dominican man shot by ICE officers
The Democratic Socialists of America issued an angry statement calling for ICE to leave New York City after Oscar Belgal was shot in front of his five-year-old son
The boy was not hurt, but the shooting sparked angry demonstrations and renewed examination of ICE’s increasingly forceful immigration operations.
Federal officials maintain that agents opened fire because they believed their lives were in danger. According to their account, Belgal accelerated his vehicle and hit two government cars as he tried to get away.
Marcos Charles, who leads ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, defended the agents at a news conference in Washington.
“Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons,” Charles said.
Yet NYPD-released surveillance footage has fueled new questions about how the confrontation unfolded.
In one video, two plainclothes immigration officers approach Belgal’s parked vehicle at a run, their guns already drawn.
The footage appears to show one agent hitting the windows with his firearm before the driver speeds away and vanishes from view.
A second camera angle shows bystanders rushing to safety moments later as the vehicle crashes into a concrete barrier. Bullet holes are visible across the windshield and rear passenger window.
Angry demonstrators protested ICE after last week’s shooting, carrying signs calling for the federal agent believed responsible to be indicted
Hundreds of protesters flooded New York City streets carrying ‘ICE OUT OF NYC’ banners as outrage erupted over the shooting of the 28-year-old Dominican immigrant
The footage does not show the actual shooting, leaving crucial questions about the agents’ use of force unanswered.
Tisch subsequently revealed that federal officers fired seven rounds during the confrontation.
The NYPD was not involved in the immigration operation itself, although city officers responded afterward and transported the wounded man to hospital.
Body-camera footage shows Belgal sitting on the pavement with his hands behind his back as federal agents attend to his injuries.
NYPD officers then lift him into a police SUV and race him to a nearby hospital.
‘Yo put pressure. Put pressure,’ one officer can be heard shouting as the vehicle reverses down the street.
The shooting has also ignited controversy over Belgal’s criminal history.
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Federal officials allege he was associated with a robbery crew that used mopeds and weapons, and say he was convicted of grand larceny last year, receiving five years’ probation.
He has also pleaded not guilty to narcotics-sale charges in a separate pending case.
But Democratic Socialist congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier has accused Tisch of attempting to demonize the wounded immigrant by publicly discussing his criminal record.
Chevalier demanded the commissioner’s resignation the day after the shooting, accusing her of shielding what she characterized as a ‘militia’ of armed ICE officers.
During an interview with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, Chevalier argued that Belgal’s criminal history ‘doesn’t even matter’ when evaluating the shooting.
Her remarks intensified the growing divide between Mamdani and activists demanding a far more confrontational response to federal immigration enforcement.
Appearing on MS Now on Sunday, the mayor was pressed about the calls for Tisch’s removal.
One protester held a sign demanding ‘DITCH TISCH NOW!’ as pressure mounted on Mamdani to remove his police commissioner over the NYPD’s response.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has resisted demands from his socialist allies to fire Jessica Tisch, insisting he has no plans to replace the NYPD commissioner
He instead defended the NYPD’s limited involvement in the incident.
‘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 explained that officers responded to a 911 call and transported Belgal to hospital.
‘What I will be doing with the police commissioner is a review of that entire 24 hour period,’ he added.
Mamdani also maintained that the Strategic Response Group had not participated in the shooting or the immediate police response, although he reiterated his intention to disband the unit.
The mayor had already told the New York Times on Friday that ‘there are no plans’ to change the NYPD’s leadership.
He nevertheless pledged to examine every aspect of the incident, including the police response to subsequent demonstrations and the use of privately owned parking lots to stage federal immigration operations.
Mamdani said his administration would consider ‘every action the city can take to protect New Yorkers from ICE’s terror.’
The mayor previously branded the shooting an ‘outrage,’ declaring: ‘There is no justification for what we have seen today.’
Belgal had two previous arrests in New York City
Oscar Belgal was shot during an interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in New York City on Thursday
Mayor Mamdani has also faced criticism for repeatedly meeting with President Donald Trump, most recently at Gracie Mansion last month
Meanwhile, Belgal remains in federal custody in Brooklyn, with his lawyers saying a bullet is still lodged in his body.
His attorney, Harold Solis, condemned the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
‘You’re not supposed to get shot in your car with your child sitting in the back. Period,’ Solis said following a court hearing.
Belgal’s lawyers have challenged the legality of his detention, securing a temporary court order preventing his removal from the United States.
Mamdani and Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul have also unsuccessfully pressed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Trump to release him.
Mullin has defended the federal operation and accused New York officials of making immigration enforcement more dangerous by refusing to cooperate fully with ICE.
The Bronx District Attorney’s Office is investigating the shooting, while federal authorities have promised to release their agents’ body-camera footage.
