Protests in New York as Trump administration defends ICE shooting

NEW YORK: Protesters gathered in New York on Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers shot a Dominican man in an incident that has provoked a showdown between the city's Democratic mayor and the Trump administration.

Oscar Bergal, 28, was wounded in the neck during an ICE operation in the Bronx on Thursday, while a five-year-old child who was in his car at the time was physically unharmed.

The shooting drew swift criticism from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who wrote "Abolish ICE" on X — a common refrain among the political left opposed to Republican President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

US Homeland Security chief Markwayne Mullin lashed out in response, telling reporters that Mamdani's words were "dangerous and incite hostility".

"Mayor, if you abolish ICE, who's going to take criminals off the streets of your own town?" Mullin said. "Who's going to take the murderers and the thieves and the gangbangers?"

An AFP journalist saw hundreds of protesters stretching across several blocks in Manhattan on Friday, chanting "No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here" and "No ICE".

New York, a Democratic stronghold, is one of several US cities that bar their police forces from assisting with federal immigration enforcement.

Mamdani said on Thursday that he was seeking to speak with Trump and would demand that immigration agents be withdrawn from the city.

The incident could test the surprisingly warm relationship between the two leaders.

Video of the shooting, shared by US media on Friday, shows what appears to be a plainclothes federal agent rushing towards a silver car with a gun drawn.

The vehicle briefly reverses as the agent punches the driver-side window, before a second plainclothes officer draws a gun.

He points the weapon at the driver as the car pulls away off screen, appearing to collide with the side of a passing vehicle.

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High-profile shootings

Mullin said Bergal had an extensive criminal history and was trying to evade arrest.

"He came to this country legally a few years ago, and ever since he's come in, he's committed crime and crime after crime," the Homeland Security secretary said.

Mullin said ICE officers did not know there was a child in the car when they opened fire.

Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, told reporters that Bergal had "refused lawful orders to exit his vehicle".

"He then accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles, and then weaponised his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate, going towards other officers," Charles said.

"Our officers, using their training, and believing that their life and the lives of their partners and general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons," he said.

ICE agents, who often wear civilian clothing and cover their faces, have been involved in several high-profile shootings this year.

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot by ICE in March 2025 in what the Texas Tribune said was the first known killing of an American by immigration agents during Trump's second term.

More recently, a Mexican man, Lorenzo Salgado, died in July after being shot by an ICE officer in Houston, Texas.

Two Americans — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in separate incidents in Minnesota during a crackdown on undocumented migrants in the northern state earlier this year.