Oversight Project Slams Mamdani for Demanding Release of Illegal Alien Shot While Resisting ICE Operation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 9, 2026
Washington, D.C.–The Oversight Project condemns New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani for demanding that President Trump release Oscar Belgal after attempting to ram two ICE vehicles in an attempt to escape, which resulted in Belgal being shot. Within hours, Mamdani posted that ICE “shot a New Yorker.” He then spent two hours on the phone with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in an attempt to get Belgal released.
Belgal is not a New Yorker. He is a foreigner and is illegally in the United States. He goes home now.
The Oversight Project stands with the men and women of ICE. They are doing the job Americans elected President Trump to do and we will continue to support them as they work to accomplish mass deportation.
President of the Oversight Project Mike Howell gave this statement:
"New York is for New Yorkers and it must be returned to American control. ICE's limited enforcement actions have been met with evasion and resistance not only from the illegal alien community but from corrupt politicians, street activists, and their megaphones on the internet and in the media. The non-American occupation of New York will never accept that a single deportation is okay. We've seen this movie before and I am tired of politicians pretending a negotiation can be had. We have laws in America and they should be enforced. A communist mayor like Mamdami cannot be given a rioters veto. For America to be Great Again, New York must be returned to America. President Trump has an opportunity to do that if his Department of Homeland Security does not blink and gets the job done.
By the way, does this guy even have health insurance? He should pay the hospital bill.”
Visiting Fellow for Deportation Studies at the Oversight Project Scott Mechkowski gave this statement:
“Mayor Mamdani looked at a shooting he knew almost nothing about and decided ICE was guilty. Hours later he was on the phone with the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security, demanding they release a man DHS says has a grand larceny conviction and a string of arrests for assault, robbery, weapons and drugs. The body camera footage hadn’t been released. The investigation hadn’t started. He had his conclusion and his slogan before he had a single fact. This is the same mayor who called the NYPD wicked and corrupt, and who had nothing to say about the detainer the city declined to honor on the men accused of stabbing Detective Mercedes seven times. New Yorkers deserve a mayor who waits for the evidence, not one who treats a use-of-force investigation like a campaign rally. Disgusting.”
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