Mamdani begged Trump to release gang-linked illegal alien wounded in NYC ICE shooting during 2-hour phone call
New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged President Donald Trump to release an illegal immigrant who was shot during a confrontation with federal immigration agents on Thursday. The individual had a series of previous charges, and the Department of Homeland Security has linked him to the Trinitarios gang.
28-year-old Oscar Bergal, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was shot after allegedly using his vehicle against ICE officers. Officials said that Bergal “accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate, going towards other officers.”
Bergal has been described by a resident at his apartment complex as a “menace to society” who was “reckless.” He had previously gotten into a fight with a man outside the building and pulled a machete on another resident’s nephew. Bergal had also previously been charged with robbery, grand larceny, theft, armed with a deadly weapon, conviction, forcible theft, among other charges.
According to CNN, Trump and Mamdani held a roughly two-hour phone call on Thursday in an attempt by Mamdani to negotiate Bergal’s release from federal custody. A source familiar with the discussion described it as cordial, despite significant disagreements between the two sides.
At one point in the conversation, Trump, Mamdani, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin tried to negotiate a compromise that would see Bergal’s release and transfer to the New York Police Department. Trump had reportedly suggested that the NYPD had enough reason to hold Bergal on his criminal record, but Mamdani refused.
“He was wanting us to release this individual back onto the streets,” Mullin told reporters on Friday. “If NYPD wants to take the charges and pursue the charges, we’ll be happy to release him into the custody of NYPD. I shared that with the mayor. The mayor once again said we will not be detaining him.”
In a press conference at the scene of the incident, Mamdani accused ICE of being “rotten to its core.”
“Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known: 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,” Mamdani said.