Mullin Destroys Mamdani on ICE Abolish Push After Gang Defense

DHS Secretary Mullin Destroys Mayor Mamdani Over ICE Abolition Push After Criminal Alien Defended by Mayors Shot in Federal Enforcement Action

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin delivered one of the sharpest rebukes a federal cabinet official has issued to a local elected leader in recent memory, tearing into New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for calling to abolish ICE after a shooting involving a criminal alien the mayor had tried to shield from deportation.

The confrontation came during a DHS briefing following an incident in which ICE agents were involved in a shooting with an individual from the Dominican Republic who entered the country legally under the prior administration and then racked up three years of criminal charges including grand larceny, assault, robbery, drug violations, weapons offenses, and documented ties to the Trinitarios gang.

🚨 NOW: DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin is BLOWING UP on Ugandan Mayor Mamdani calling for abolishing ICE after yesterday's shooting involving a criminal alien

"We arrest thousands, weekly, that are criminals and HE turns a blind eye to it and won't even stand up for his own NYPD… pic.twitter.com/KqwKmuc7xt

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 9, 2026

Mullin did not mince words. The secretary made clear that Mamdani had personally sought the release of this individual despite the extensive criminal record, and then turned around and used the shooting as justification to call ICE rotten to the core and demand the agency be abolished entirely.

The secretary’s response was direct and personal. He pointed out that ICE arrests thousands of criminals every single week, going after the worst offenders in the country, while Mamdani turns a blind eye and refuses to stand up for his own NYPD officers who protect him every day. Mullin then posed the question that Mamdani has yet to answer: if you abolish ICE, who takes the murderers and thieves and gangbangers off the streets of New York when you refuse to let NYPD do it and they want to?

The records tell the story Mamdani does not want told. The individual involved came into the United States legally a few years ago during the Biden administration. From that point forward, he committed crime after crime. DHS records indicate the criminal activity spans roughly three years. The charges are not minor — grand larceny, assault, robbery, drugs, weapons. The man has ties to the Trinitarios, a violent street gang with a long history of brutal attacks in New York.

Mamdani tried to get him released. That is the individual the mayor chose to defend. Not the NYPD officers who risk their lives daily. Not the New Yorkers who live in the neighborhoods this gang operates in. The criminal alien with the three-year rap sheet and the gang tattoos.

Mullin called that out explicitly. He made the point that calling this person a New Yorker is a far cry from reality. The man is a foreign national who came here legally, abused that privilege, and built a criminal résumé that would land any American citizen in prison for years. Mamdani’s response was to attack the federal agents trying to remove him.

The secretary also addressed Mamdani’s claim that ICE is rotten to the core. Mullin pointed out that the men and women of ICE enforce the laws every single day that Mamdani himself refuses to enforce. They go after criminals. They protect communities. They do the job that mayors like Mamdani actively obstruct. And when one of those criminals fights back and a shooting occurs, Mamdani blames ICE instead of the criminal or his own sanctuary policies that enabled the situation in the first place.

Mullin contrasted Mamdani’s position with the administration’s clear support for the NYPD. The president has made it clear he loves the NYPD and considers them among the finest law enforcement officers in the country. The federal government wants to work with New York. They want to partner with the city and the state. But that requires local leaders who will actually cooperate instead of sabotaging enforcement and then pointing fingers when things go wrong.

The secretary revealed that he spoke with the New York governor the night before the briefing. The governor indicated a willingness to help with over a hundred criminals in the state illegally, if DHS would provide notice. Mullin’s response was simple: send the list. That is how cooperation works. The governor is willing. The mayor is not.

Mamdani’s abolish ICE stance is not new, but using a criminal alien with gang ties and a three-year crime spree as the martyr for that cause exposes the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the sanctuary city movement. The policies these mayors enact do not protect immigrants. They protect criminals who happen to be immigrants, and they do so at the expense of everyone else, including legal immigrants and the police officers tasked with keeping order.

Mullin laid that reality bare. If ICE is abolished, who does the job? Mamdani has no answer because his policies do not allow the job to be done at all. He will not let NYPD cooperate with federal immigration authorities. He will not let dangerous criminals be detained and deported. He will not even publicly support his own officers when they are the ones standing between his citizens and violent gang members.

The shooting incident that triggered this confrontation is a direct result of sanctuary policies that force ICE agents into more dangerous situations because local cooperation has been explicitly banned. When cities refuse to turn over criminal aliens in custody, ICE has to go into the streets to find them. That increases risk for everyone, agents and community members alike. And when something goes wrong, the same mayors who created the dangerous conditions blame the federal agents trying to enforce the law despite the obstruction.

Mullin’s message to Mamdani and every other sanctuary city mayor was clear. The administration will not tolerate local officials using federal law enforcement as a scapegoat for the consequences of their own failed policies. ICE will continue doing its job. Criminals will be arrested. The worst offenders will be removed. And if mayors want to complain about it, they can explain to their voters why they are prioritizing foreign gang members over the safety of American citizens and legal residents.

The facts are not in dispute. The individual involved in the shooting came here legally and used that legal status to commit years of crimes. Mamdani tried to shield him from deportation. When ICE moved to remove him and a shooting occurred, Mamdani attacked the agency instead of the criminal. That sequence of events speaks for itself, and it explains why Mullin responded the way he did.

This is not a policy debate. This is a question of who gets protected and who gets thrown under the bus. Mamdani chose to protect a gang-connected repeat offender. Mullin chose to protect the agents doing their job and the community those agents serve. The contrast could not be sharper, and the DHS secretary made certain the entire country understood exactly where the mayor stands.