NYC Socialist Candidate Dismisses ICE Shooting Suspect’s Criminal Record, Demands Agency Abolition
Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier stated that the violent criminal history of Oscar Belgal, a man shot by ICE agents in the Bronx, is irrelevant. She accused NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch of villainizing Belgal and called for the abolition of ICE. Belgal, a 28-year-old undocumented man with prior convictions for armed robbery and drug sales, was wounded in the neck on October 8 while driving with his five-year-old son. The incident sparked massive protests in New York City, where Chevalier was physically thrown to the ground by police. While Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the shooting, he has not yet dismissed Tisch or disbanded the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a move Chevalier is demanding.
