NYPD Barricades Protesters to Clear the Way for ICE Vehicles after ICE Agent shoots New Yorker in Upper Manhattan
After the shooting of Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill, advocates and protesters renewed their demand that ICE leave New York City, and for Jessica Tisch to step down.
After an ICE agent shot a New Yorker in Upper Manhattan Thursday afternoon — with a five-year-old in the car with him — NYPD barricaded protesters for hours, clearing the way for a stream of unmarked ICE vehicles to exit the nearby hospital. Officials confirmed that one such vehicle took the man who was shot, Oscar Belgal, to the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in New Jersey.
Rapid responders flocked to the scene soon after an ICE agent shot Belgal in the neck. Some obstructed ICE vehicles around NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital — where Belgal was being held at the time — and others rallied at a press conference at the site of the shooting on W 225th St.
When a group of more than 100 protesters marching south from the press conference reached the main entrance of Allen Hospital at W 220th St and Broadway around 9 p.m., they tried to merge with protesters who were already by the hospital entrance — with the apparent goal of preventing ICE from leaving with Belgal.
In response, dozens of NYPD officers barricaded the north and south edges of W 220th St and pushed protesters aside, clearing a path for vehicles to enter and exit the hospital. The swarm of NYPD continued to barricade and push protesters for almost two hours, knocking some to the ground — including Congresswoman-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier, who tried to stand in between protesters and police.
At around 10:45 p.m., NYPD officers pushed more protesters to the ground to make way for a caravan of unmarked ICE vehicles to speed away from the hospital.
New York’s sanctuary city status largely restricts how the NYPD can collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement operations.
But sanctuary protections — including a statewide ban on 287(g) agreements that prohibits local authorities from carrying out immigration enforcement — have been flouted in the past, with NYPD assisting ICE by clearing crowds of protesters and rapid responders.
Mamdani has previously lambasted NYPD-ICE coordination. “I have made it clear to … NYPD that we are going to uphold our sanctuary city policies … and we are not here to assist ICE agents in their work,” the mayor said in January after ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis.
“I have made it clear to … NYPD that we are going to uphold our sanctuary city policies … and we are not here to assist ICE agents in their work.”
Around 11 p.m., most NYPD officers left the hospital area and some protesters walked back up to the site of the shooting, where Mamdani was holding a press conference.
In his speech, Mamdani renewed his call to “abolish ICE” and confirmed that Belgal had been taken by ICE vehicles from the hospital to Delaney Hall.
Jessica Tisch, the NYC police commissioner, said that “the NYPD had no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting.” Later in her speech, Tisch detailed Belgal’s history of engagement with law enforcement.
71% of current nationwide ICE detainees have no criminal convictions, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University. The 29% of detainees who do have convictions include those convicted of minor offenses, including traffic violations.
Protesters chanted throughout Mamdani and Tisch’s speeches. Their chants criticized ICE, the NYPD, Mamdani, and Tisch.
Mamdani has faced calls to fire Tisch from a slew of his allies, including from the DSA itself — a group which he has called his “political home.” The DSA said in a press release Friday that “Tisch must get ICE out of New York and end NYPD complicity with these terrorists. If the commissioner can’t put a stop to these injustices, she must be fired.”