Mullin made the comment at a Washington news conference on Friday morning after a Thursday night news conference Mamdani held to denounce the ICE operation which saw ICE officers firing shots at an illegal alien, Oscar Belgal, after he attempted to flee the officers in his vehicle.
ICE official, Marcos Charles, said authorities had issued a detainer on Belgal and that Belgal has run with a gang known for thefts using weapons and mopeds. Officers used vehicles to block him in as he attempted to drive off.
And irate Mayor Mamdani called the shooting an outrage and spent two hours Thursday night pressing President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to release the wounded man, and urging them to stop immigration enforcement operations in the city.
Mullin was quick to reject such a suggestion.
“Well, mayor, if you abolish ICE, who’s going to take criminals off the streets of your own town?” Mullin said Friday. “The mayor speaks with political tone. His words are dangerous and incite hostility. It doesn’t help.”
“Sanctuary politicians, they create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for the American citizens to be safe,” he said.
Mullin said ICE has requested more than 14,000 detainers in the state of New York for individuals in local custody that they’re seeking to deport.
“Silence. Absolute silence is what we have gotten back,” he said. “Why would they release these individuals back onto the streets?”
“We’re enforcing our nation’s laws. We’re not picking and choosing,” Mullin continued. “Why is that controversial? We should all want law and order on our streets.”
