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Trump offered NYPD custody of the man ICE shot. Mullin says Mamdani wanted him freed.

Mamdani Spent Two Hours Asking Trump to Free the Man ICE Shot. Mullin Says He Refused an NYPD Deal.

by
M.A. Rothman

By M.A. RothmanOctober 11, 2026 · 4 min read
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent nearly two hours on the phone with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday night, October 8, trying to get federal immigration authorities to release a man an ICE officer had shot that afternoon. He did not get what he wanted. According to Mullin, the administration offered a compromise, letting the NYPD take custody of the man, and the mayor turned it down.

The call came hours after an ICE operation in the Marble Hill neighborhood, at the Bronx-Manhattan line, ended in gunfire. What followed was a clean test of the sanctuary-city position: when a man with a criminal record and no legal status ends up in federal custody, does the city want him held by anyone at all?

What happened in Marble Hill

At around 4 p.m. on October 8, ICE officers conducted what the Department of Homeland Security called “a targeted enforcement operation.” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at least one agent fired seven rounds, striking the driver of a car in the neck. Police identified him as Oscar Belgal, 28. He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in stable condition. A 5-year-old boy whom police believe is his son was in the car; Tisch said the child was not hurt and is with a family member.

DHS said that “an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured,” and that officers rendered aid. The department described Belgal as a Dominican national with a prior grand larceny conviction, prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession and weapons possession, and alleged ties to the Trinitarios gang. DHS also said the NYPD had arrested him in December 2023 and released him days later, and it blamed the city’s sanctuary policies.

Tisch laid out what the city’s own records show: a 2023 robbery case in which Belgal pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and was sentenced to five years’ probation, and a 2025 charge of criminal sale of a controlled substance that is still pending.

DHS has not publicly explained what led the officer to fire, and the shooting remains under investigation. Mullin has said the agents wore body cameras and that footage will be released as the investigation proceeds. Gov. Kathy Hochul has asked for that footage to be made public. Those questions deserve straight answers, and the footage should settle them.

Two hours on the phone

Mamdani announced the call before it happened: “I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city.” Afterward, he acknowledged that his push to have Belgal released had failed.

Mullin gave his account the next day on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum. “The governor was being somewhat respectful and reasonable,” he said. “The mayor was being cordial, but unrealistic. The fact that they wanted to release this individual back on the streets is absurd.”

He said the president offered a way out. “President Trump was very cordial. He was very nice. He said, listen, NYPD, they’re the finest. If you guys want to take custody of him, then we’ll be happy to give you custody of him while the investigation is going.”

Then Mullin read off the record as he described it: “Keep in mind, this guy is on probation for, let me explain what he’s on probation for, four robbery charges, two charges of felony assault, felony larceny,” along with weapons possession, possession of stolen property and “two felony charges of dangerous drugs, all in three years. And that’s how long he’s been in the country.” Mullin’s list of charges is longer than the conviction and pending case Tisch described; arrests and charges are not the same as convictions.

The offer, in Mullin’s telling, was simple: “New York PD can obviously pick him up, hold him. If you’re willing to do that, we’ll release him to your custody.” And the answer: “The mayor refused to do that. They said they wanted him fully released and back on the streets, and we can’t do that.”

“So while it was a long conversation, it wasn’t very productive, even though President Trump tried his best to make a deal,” Mullin said.

The mayor’s real position

Mamdani has not hidden what he wants. On October 8 he said, “Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children.” He has called ICE “rotten to its core,” according to Fox News, and Time reported that he has backed calls to abolish the agency.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the hospital on Thursday night, chanting “ICE off our streets.” Police set up barricades and made arrests after scuffles and thrown water bottles, Fox News reported.

There is a fair debate to be had about the shooting itself, and the body camera footage will matter. But that is not what Mamdani asked for. He did not ask only for transparency or an independent review. By Mullin’s account, he was offered the option of having the city’s own police department hold the man during the investigation, and he wanted no custody at all. For a man on probation with a pending drug-sale case, that is not a civil liberties position. It is the sanctuary city doctrine taken to its logical end.

As Mullin put it: “President Trump said we were going to go after the worst of the worst and restore law and order, even when these sanctuary politicians won’t.”

The president offered to hand the man to the NYPD, and by Mullin’s account New York’s mayor said even that was too much custody for a convicted, probationed illegal alien.

Sources

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