New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul – Democrats both – wasted precious little time expressing their self-righteous outrage after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot a man during an enforcement operation in New York City on Thursday.
And on Friday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin turned that outrage right back on them.
“NYPD officers are some of the finest officers we have out there,” Mullin said at a news conference in Washington, D.C. “Just last week, one was stabbed seven times by illegals. One that we had a detainer on that New York released. Both had extensive criminal backgrounds.”
Then came the zinger.
“Did the mayor of New York say anything about that?” Mullin asked. “Not a word was said. Not a word was said by the mayor. Not a word was said by the governor.”
He was, of course, referring to the Oct. 2 stabbing of off-duty NYPD Detective Jose Mercedes, who police say was slashed and stabbed during an attempted robbery in the Bronx.
As RedState previously reported, two Dominican nationals – who federal law enforcement officials say entered the country illegally during the Biden administration – have been accused in the attack on Mercedes. D’Angelo Caraballo, 25, and Sneider Mejia, 24, were later arrested in Massachusetts and now face multiple charges, including attempted murder.
BREAKING: DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin blasts Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul for condemning last night's ICE-involved shooting while he says they remained silent after an NYPD officer was stabbed by a pair of illegal immigrants with prior criminal histories "NYPD officers are some of the finest officers we have out there. Just last week, one was stabbed seven times by illegals. One that we had a detainer on that New York released. Both had extensive criminal backgrounds." "Did the mayor of New York say anything about that? Did the individuals that's in the streets demanding justice for this criminal that we picked up yesterday? Did anybody come out for the officer that was stabbed seven times by these criminals?" "Not a word was said. Not a word was said by the mayor. Not a word was said by the governor."
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 9, 2026
The Thursday shooting happened in Marble Hill when ICE agents attempted to arrest 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, an illegal with two prior arrests.
According to New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch, surveillance video showed federal officers in plain clothes approaching Belgal’s SUV with their weapons drawn. The vehicle then moved forward and out of camera view, so the actual shooting was not captured.
Police say an ICE agent fired seven rounds, striking Belgal in the neck. A five-year-old child inside the vehicle was not injured.
ICE, meanwhile, says Belgal had fled from agents at least once before, and they decided not to pursue him at the time. On Thursday, the agency says officers tried to box in his vehicle, but Belgal attempted to flee yet again and rammed their vehicles while doing so.
NEW: ICE announces that the Dominican criminal illegal alien shot by ICE in the Bronx yesterday previously fled from ICE in September, and ICE didn’t pursue. Yesterday, ICE says they tried to block him in with several vehicles and he tried to flee again by ramming the ICE cars. ICE says they also had a detainer on him on a prior arrest last year, but NYC released him and ignored the detainer. ICE says because he’s a known flight risk, they now have him in detention outside of New York. DHS Sec. Mullin then blasts NYC Mayor Mamdani for referring to the alien as a “New Yorker”, and for running to the microphones about this, but having nothing to say about the attempted stabbing murder & robbery of a NYPD officer by two Dominican illegal aliens last week.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 9, 2026
Mamdani, meanwhile, referred to Belgal as a “New Yorker” and blasted ICE as “rotten to its core,” while once again calling for an end to ICE operations in the city.
That was clearly more than enough for Mullin, who accused the mayor of finding his voice awfully quickly when ICE was involved, but not when one of New York’s own detectives was nearly killed by illegal alien thugs.
For Mamdani, it seems, the outrage only comes when ICE is involved.