Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for the House seat that includes Marble Hill, told the Department of Homeland Security it does not get to decide who is a New Yorker, after the agency put the term in quotation marks to describe the man an ICE officer shot there Thursday.
“One thing all New Yorkers can agree on is that neither ICE nor DHS get to decide who is a New Yorker and who is not. Fuck outta here,” Avila Chevalier wrote on X late Friday, quoting the DHS post.
The DHS post, published Friday afternoon as part of a release titled “DHS Debunks New York Sanctuary Politicians’ Lies About ICE Shooting of Illegal Alien Gang Member,” read: “CLAIM: A New Yorker was shot by ICE agents in Marble Hill. FACT: This ‘New Yorker’ is a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic.” The release named Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
At least one ICE officer fired seven rounds into a car around 4 p.m. Thursday, hitting Oscar Belgal, 28, below his left ear as his 5-year-old son sat in the back seat, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. The boy was not hurt. DHS said the officers feared for their lives and did not know a child was in the car.
It was not the first time Avila Chevalier had made the point. Hours after the shooting on Thursday, she wrote on X: “This afternoon, ICE shot and hospitalized someone in Marble Hill, in my district. There is no reforming a terrorizing, unaccountable militia. Our neighbors are not targets.”
Elected officials representing Bushwick and North Brooklyn had made the same argument hours before the DHS post.
Assemblywoman Maritza Davila, who represents Bushwick and Williamsburg, wrote Friday that “an ICE agent shot a New Yorker while his five-year-old son was in the backseat.”
“Immigrants are our neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family,” Davila wrote. “New Yorkers deserve safety, answers, and accountability.”
State Sen. Jabari Brisport, replying on X to ICE’s own statement about the shooting, told the agency it was “not welcome in NYC ever.” Council Member Lincoln Restler wrote that “untrained and dangerous ICE staff terrorize our communities.”
State Sen. Julia Salazar, Brisport, Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher and Queens Assemblywoman Claire Valdez were among nine state legislators and eight Democratic nominees in the New York State Socialists in Office group who signed a joint statement praising New Yorkers who “bravely stood up against ICE’s attacks on immigrants.” It ended: “ICE out of New York now!”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso called on “New Yorkers looking to plug into the work of protecting your neighbors” to join his office’s events, including a “Know Your Rights” canvass Saturday in Cypress Hills, where he wrote that “neighbors have reported an uptick in ICE sightings.” Rep. Nydia Velázquez and Council Member Sandy Nurse are listed as partners on the event’s flyer.
Citywide, Mamdani put it plainly on X on Friday: “Immigrant New Yorkers belong here. ICE does not.” On Thursday night he had written on Instagram, “Because today ICE shot a New Yorker.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams predicted the federal response Thursday night. “ICE shot a New Yorker today while his five year old was in the car. But tomorrow, they’re going to try to villainize this father and make themselves victims,” his office wrote on Instagram.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she “expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers” in a call with President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and urged them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York, amNewYork reported.
Avila Chevalier was in Marble Hill on Thursday night. In a post Friday, she wrote that she was “shoved to the ground by an officer” while trying to de-escalate, and that Tisch “attempted to justify the shooting by reading off our neighbor’s past interactions with police.” She called for the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group to be disbanded and for Tisch to “step down.”
Late Thursday she also shared video of herself speaking near the scene.
“Now, they’re claiming they never knew his child was there, highlighting their incompetence and blatant disregard for public safety,” Avila Chevalier wrote Friday evening. “Our community deserves better. Abolish ICE.”
In a video posted with it, she said people near the scene told her they had been “threatened by ICE agents who were brandishing weapons, including rifles, to keep folks away from the scene.”
Later Friday she posted a second video. “ICE shot a man in his car while his five-year-old child was in the backseat. My community deserves better,” she wrote.
Reynoso urged the Mamdani administration to “stick with its commitment to disbanding the SRG,” and the joint statement said Tisch “must be fired” if she does not end police assistance for ICE operations and disband the unit.
Mamdani said he spent about two hours on the phone with Trump and Mullin on Thursday seeking the man’s release. “Those negotiations were unsuccessful,” he said, amNewYork reported.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken temporarily barred the government from deporting Belgal while a petition challenging his detention is pending. That evening, protesters rallied in Foley Square. “Rallying in Foley Square, we demand accountability and transparency,” City Comptroller Mark Levine wrote on X.
Avila Chevalier won the June 23 Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who still represents the district. Espaillat said he was denied access to the wounded man at the hospital, amNewYork reported. The general election is Nov. 3.
The city’s Immigration Legal Support Hotline is 1-800-354-0365; callers can also dial 311 and say “Immigration Legal.”
Featured image: Ayman Siam / Office of the NYC Comptroller
