Anger erupted when a plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent opened fire and wounded 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill on Oct. 8. People were particularly incensed when they learned a 5-year-old child was in the back seat. When New Yorkers took to the streets, NYPD officers, who are legally barred from collaborating with ICE, met the protesters with alleged force.
After she was pushed to the ground by police at the subsequent protest over the shooting, Democratic Congressional Nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier called for Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s resignation. Her statement corroborated the videos that surfaced online of the incident and also called for the Strategic Response Group, a controversial unit often deployed to unplanned protests, to be disbanded.
“When I was in Marble Hill last night, I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence. As I was trying to de-escalate, I was shoved to the ground by an officer,” said Avila Chevalier. “I witnessed unmarked law enforcement cars hitting protestors as NYPD officers pushed people out of its path, and instead of condemning ICE’s violence, Police Commissioner Tisch attempted to justify the shooting by reading off our neighbor’s past interactions with police.
“The NYPD spent more time protecting a militia that just shot someone than protecting New Yorkers. Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities.”
During a press briefing with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Tisch revealed the 28-year-old shooting victim’s identity and ran down his arrest record, which drew ire from the city’s left. NYPD officers responded to the shooting and took the handcuffed man in a department vehicle to render aid, according to the commissioner. He arrived at a local hospital in stable condition. Federal agents “have exercised their authority to take over the investigation,” Tisch added.
“I want to be clear: the NYPD had no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting, and no members of the NYPD were on scene at the time of the shooting,” Tisch said. “Additional NYPD officers arrived and secured the scene for the purpose of preserving evidence. At least seven shell casings were recovered at the scene, along with the victim’s vehicle, which had ballistic damage to the front windshield. The back window of the car was also shattered. That vehicle was positioned perpendicular to the road.
“An ICE vehicle, which is a gray four-door sedan, had damage to the left front panel, and the lower panel was fully disconnected. With respect to the child who was inside the vehicle: Pursuant to a wellness check, the NYPD located the child safe and in the care of a family member.”
However, Avila Chevalier’s campaign questioned the NYPD’s involvement in ensuring ICE could get past activists to take Belgal from the hospital into an unmarked car and into custody. Currently, he is held in “deplorable conditions” at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, according to his lawyers from the Legal Aid Society and Make the Road New York.
“Mr. Belgal is living through an unimaginable nightmare,” they said in a statement. “While he is currently in solitary confinement, a bullet remains lodged in his neck, the left side of his face is numb, and he can barely hear out of his left ear. Doctors have told him he urgently needs surgery, but that the procedure was too dangerous to perform Thursday evening without a specialized surgeon present.
“Although he was instructed to return to the hospital this week, he has been left in the dark about whether that surgery will even happen. He is also suffering from a shoulder wound caused by shattered glass during the incident.”
Sanctuary laws prevent the NYPD and other local law enforcement agencies from sharing information or participating in joint operations with federal immigration authorities like ICE. However, a fraught relationship between the department and anti-ICE protesters stems from issues over the city’s police force ostensibly “clearing the way” for immigration enforcement such as with Belgal’s hospital arrest. Last year, the NYPD arrested demonstrators who tried blocking an ICE raid in lower Manhattan.
Avila Chevalier, a Democratic Socialist firebrand, rose to prominence this year after defeating longtime incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary after a boost from Mamdani’s endorsement. She will be on the general election ballot this November, where she is overwhelmingly favored to win along with other Manhattan/Bronx Democratic House candidates. She will also represent the Marble Hill area, if elected.
In the meantime, the longtime community organizer remains on the front lines during protests — recently, Avila Chevalier, as well as other notable figures like Councilmember Chi Ossé and Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon, were arrested outside the United Nations for protesting against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before his General Assembly speech.
Tisch’s prominent role in Mamdani’s administration remains scrutinized as Democratic Socialists like the mayor and Avila Chevalier, whose opposition to Israeli attacks on Gaza and “tax the rich” policy platforms are directly at odds with the police commissioner’s background as a billionaire heiress and pro-Israel proponent. The NYPD did not respond to a request to comment.
Mamdani reiterated his determination to abolish ICE and called the federal agency “rotten to its core.” He revealed phone conversations with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in an unsuccessful attempt to get Belgal released.
“This is a residential neighborhood,” said Mamdani. “We are right here by a subway, and the pretext of ICE is, in their words, to keep this country safe. How is it keeping anyone safe to have, as you just heard from the police commissioner, individuals wearing construction vests and masks with long guns? Residents have no idea if these are law enforcement agents or if they are simply attacking someone on the street, and when it comes to ICE, it begs the question: What’s the difference? There is no explanation for this.”
