WASHINGTON (TNND) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “rotten to its core,” saying that the agency “must be abolished” after an agent shot an illegal immigrant in the city.

Mamdani on Thursday said he tried to negotiate the release of the illegal immigrant, who had been arrested twice before in the city, with President Trump, the New York Post reported.

“Around 4 p.m. this afternoon, a New Yorker was shot by ICE agents in Marble Hill,” Mamdani told reporters at a late-night press conference near an anti-ICE protest in the Bronx.

“For the past two hours, I’ve been on the phone with President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary Mullin negotiating the release of the man ICE agents shot. Those negotiations were unsuccessful,” Mamdani said.

The New York Police Department identified the illegal immigrant as Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic, who was shot in the neck and hospitalized before unmarked ICE vehicles took him from NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, according to the mayor.

While protesters chanted “complicit” as Mamdani spoke, he called ICE “rotten to its core” and demanded that the agency “must be abolished.”

“What does Trump have to say about all of this?” Mamdani said.

“Now I made clear to the president, to the secretary, our request [is] that ICE agents leave the scene entirely — as well as the demand that ICE stop its enforcement actions in New York City.”

“We know, and I have said this directly, whether to the president or to the public, ICE undermines public safety. It makes us less safe,” the mayor said.

Mullin said during a press conference Friday that while negotiating with Mamdani, Trump offered to hand over Belgal to the NYPD, but the mayor said the illegal immigrant wouldn’t be detained.

The DHS secretary added that Mamdani “wanted us to walk away and allow this dangerous criminal back onto the streets.”

Regarding Mamdani’s comment that ICE is “rotten to its core,” Mullin said, “Really? The men and women at ICE each day are enforcing the laws that he refuses to enforce.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting occurred while ICE had been attempting to arrest Belgal, who they claimed has ties to the Trinitarios gang.

Trinitarios, a Dominican gang, was founded on Rikers Island in the early 1990s and has been accused of killing people in the city ever since.

The NYPD confirmed to the Post that Belgal had been arrested for robbery in 2023, for which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years’ probation, and for criminal sale of a controlled substance last year, which is still pending.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that seven rounds were fired by at least one ICE agent, and added that the “NYPD had no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting.”

Tisch said NYPD cameras recorded video of Belgal in the driver’s seat of a gray Honda CRV and backing into a parking spot when a plainclothes ICE agent approached the driver’s side window with his gun drawn. She also noted that another plainclothes agent approached the driver’s side headlight when the vehicle began to move forward, out of the camera’s view.

While the shooting wasn’t caught on NYPD cameras, Tisch said Belgal was struck in the neck, below his left ear.

A 5-year-old child, whom NYPD believe to be Belgal’s son, was inside the Honda CRV during the shooting and was unharmed, Tisch said.

“There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a 5-year-old in the car,” Mamdani said.

Tisch explained that NYPD officers responding to a nearby call rushed to the scene for several reports of a shooting.

“When [officers] arrived, they encountered several men in various forms of attire, including some in construction-style vests, face masks, and at least one carrying a long gun,” Tisch said, adding, “officers also encountered the injured individual handcuffed and seated on the ground.”

NYPD officers administered aid to Belgal and placed him into a police vehicle before transporting him to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where he arrived in stable condition, according to the commissioner.

Just before Mamdani’s press conference started around 11:20 p.m., “ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away,” the mayor said.

“Let me say this plainly, what happened today was an outrage,” Mamdani added.

“Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save,” he said.