NEW YORK (AP) — A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a Dominican man while arresting him in New York City on Thursday, during what the Department of Homeland Security called a “targeted enforcement operation.” Protesters decried it as an example of the dangers of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The man survived and is being treated at a hospital, the agency said. It did not describe exactly what led to the shooting, saying only that “during the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon” and that the man was injured.
The agency described him as a “criminal illegal alien” with a prior grand larceny conviction and a history of other arrests. New York police arrested him in December 2023, but he was released, the agency said.
In a statement, Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the situation “unconscionable and incredibly serious,” and the Democrat said he aimed to tell President Donald Trump to end all federal immigration enforcement actions in the city. Other local elected officials also pushed for an end to federal immigration enforcement in the city, and some rushed to the scene to hold a heated press conference condemning the shooting.
“We are heartbroken and enraged,” City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, a Democrat who emigrated from the Dominican Republic and now represents the neighborhood where the shooting happened. Some other elected officials cursed ICE and Trump, a Republican.
Demonstrators at the scene chanted, “ICE off our streets now!” and then marched to the hospital where the injured man was being treated. A sizable crowd blocked an intersection at the hospital entry, and as police began to set barricades so that ambulances and other vehicles could pass, some protesters shoved at the barriers and hurled water bottles at officers.
DHS complained that its officers “are forced to make arrests at large in the community in unpredictable and dangerous environments” when “dangerous illegal aliens” get released. The agency blamed “reckless sanctuary policies” in Democrat-led areas. There is no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
ICE agents have fired their guns during more than a dozen vehicle stops since last year, killing at least four people and wounding others. In late September, ICE ordered its officers not to engage in high-speed car chases and to make vehicle stops only if they have completed specific training.
Thursday’s shooting unfolded in Marble Hill, a small part of Manhattan that is attached to the Bronx.
Pedro Almaraz, an employee at a nearby restaurant, said he heard about three or four gunshots and saw a man on the ground surrounded by several officers wearing face masks and vests with Department of Homeland Security branding. Witnesses, he said, were screaming.
Videos and photos posted by bystanders on social media showed a man sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Another video shows New York City police officers picking up an apparently injured man and carrying him into a police vehicle.
Nearby, a damaged car sat blocking the roadway with small holes in two of its windows.
The videos show agents wearing ICE badges on the scene, including one carrying a rifle.
Neighborhood resident Alfred Silva, 38, called for federal officers to more clearly identify themselves, saying one was wearing a construction safety vest and carrying a rifle.
Seth Wenig via AP Photo/Seth Wenig
“We need to have better transparency to understand who we’re dealing with, because anybody in the street can just put on a vest and pull out a gun and claim to be ICE,” he said.
“I feel like regardless if you’re left or right, we should understand that this shouldn’t be happening.”
In a statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul said New Yorkers were outraged, immigrant communities were terrified and the state wanted answers.
“New Yorkers have witnessed far too many acts of violence by a rogue federal agency and untrained agents that operate with impunity,” the Democratic governor said.
Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed.