Inside Trump and Mamdani’s 2-hour phone call after the New York City ICE shooting

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The friendly relationship between President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hit one of its toughest tests yet Thursday after a series of calls over a shooting involving immigration agents in the Bronx.

Mamdani, who keeps an open line of communication with Trump, has argued that maintaining a working relationship with the president is a matter of pragmatism. Despite their stark ideological and political differences, Mamdani has suggested that direct engagement gives him a better chance of securing results for New Yorkers.

On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and wounded a man driving his car while his 5-year-old child was in the back seat during a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx.

The incident set up an opportunity for the mayor: Pressure Trump on an issue central to Democrats and a large swath of New Yorkers, try to get the victim released from federal custody and use the outcome to prove why his unlikely relationship with Trump is beneficial.

In the end, the victim — a 28-year-old undocumented immigrant — remained in federal custody.

Mamdani held multiple calls with the White House on Thursday night in what turned into an hourslong attempt to negotiate that the victim, Oscar Belgal, be released from custody. The Department of Homeland Security said Belgal has ties to the Trinitarios gang, a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny and prior arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession and weapons possession.

As the hours passed, protesters descended on the neighborhood, getting into skirmishes with police.

A person familiar with the talks described them as cordial in nature but said the two sides were extremely far apart in terms of what should happen next. A White House official confirmed the president had a lengthy conversation with Mamdani.

Mamdani has maintained that his diplomatic approach to Trump has benefited New Yorkers, but Thursday’s shooting could strain his relationship with Trump and test just how much the mayor can actually leverage from it.

At one point during the talks, Trump, Mamdani and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin tried to hash out a compromise that would allow the injured driver to be released from federal custody.

Mullin and Trump were willing. But only if Belgal was transferred to the custody of the New York Police Department. The Dominican national suffered a superficial neck wound when officers opened fire as they approached his vehicle.

Mullin said that during the call, Trump suggested to Mamdani the NYPD had enough reason to hold him given his criminal record, but the mayor refused.

“He was wanting us to release this individual back onto the streets,” Mullin told reporters Friday. “If NYPD wants to take the charges and pursue the charges, we’ll be happy to release him into the custody of NYPD. I shared that with the mayor. The mayor once again said we will not be detaining him.”

Mullin also said he spoke with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Belgal was the subject of a DHS investigation into the shooting of a Customs and Border Protection agent and was part of a gang “known for theft using weapons,” according to Marcos Charles, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations executive associate director, who added that he had previously evaded federal immigration agents in September.

Mamdani offered to have the NYPD take the lead on an investigation into the incident, he told Trump and Mullin. The NYPD would take over as long as federal agents left the area of the incident that evening.

Trump pressed Mamdani to let the NYPD arrest Belgal, but Mamdani would not budge.

A source familiar with the conversations told CNN there was no legal reason to hold Belgal without a warrant.

“There was no warrant out for his arrest, no legal basis for the NYPD to take him into custody,” the person said.

Negotiations broke down after that.

“The mayor was being cordial, but unrealistic,” Mullin said Friday on Fox News.

Aides to the mayor argue his relationship with the president has yielded significant results. Although ICE has ramped up enforcement, the agency has not carried out large-scale operations like those in Michigan or Minnesota.

Mamdani arrived near the scene of the incident for a late-night press conference, during which he accused ICE of being “rotten to its core.”

“Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known: that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save,” Mamdani said.

In a press conference Friday morning, Mullin tied Mamdani and New York City’s sanctuary policies, which set limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, to the incident.

ICE operations in New York have been ongoing for months. An immigration enforcement operation that took place from late July to late August yielded more than 2,100 arrests, according to DHS. Mullin traveled to New York to announce the results of the operation, known as Operation Rotten Apple, and applauded ICE agents, while again criticizing Mamdani and Hochul.

“Over the course of this operation, we arrested murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers and violent assailants. And we did it with no help from Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul. The Trump administration is committed to protecting the American people in every city and every state, and we won’t let sanctuary politicians stand in our way,” he said .

Federal data reveals that arrests in the state increased over the summer. In May, ICE took 922 people into custody in New York. That jumped to 1,190 people in June and to 1,552 in July, according to the Deportation Data Project .

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

Ryan Murphy/Getty Images

周四，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼之间的友好关系遭遇了迄今为止最严峻的考验之一，此前两人就布朗克斯区一起涉及移民执法人员的枪击事件进行了一系列通话。

与特朗普保持密切沟通的马姆达尼认为，与总统维持工作关系是务实之举。尽管两人在意识形态和政治立场上存在巨大分歧，马姆达尼仍表示，直接接触能让他更有可能为纽约民众争取到实实在在的利益。

周四，在布朗克斯区的一次有针对性的执法行动中，移民和海关执法局的特工开枪打伤了一名驾车男子，当时他 5 岁的孩子坐在后座上。

该事件为市长创造了一个机会：就民主党人和广大纽约市民关注的核心问题向特朗普施压，试图让受害者从联邦拘留中获释，并利用这一结果证明他与特朗普之间看似不太可能的关系是有益的。

最终，受害者——一名 28 岁的无证移民——仍被联邦政府拘留。

周四晚间，马姆达尼与白宫进行了多次通话，最终耗时数小时，试图谈判释放受害者奥斯卡·贝尔加尔。国土安全部表示，贝尔加尔与特里尼塔里奥斯帮派有关联，曾因重大盗窃罪被定罪，并多次因袭击、抢劫、持有毒品和持有武器而被捕。

随着时间推移，抗议者涌入该街区，与警方发生冲突。

一位知情人士形容会谈气氛友好，但表示双方在下一步行动方案上存在巨大分歧。一位白宫官员证实，总统与马姆达尼进行了长时间的通话。

马姆达尼一直坚称他对特朗普采取的外交手段使纽约市民受益，但周四的枪击事件可能会使他与特朗普的关系紧张，并考验市长究竟能从中利用多少影响力。

在会谈过程中，特朗普、马姆达尼和国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林一度试图达成一项妥协方案，允许受伤的司机从联邦拘留中获释。

穆林和特朗普都愿意配合，但前提是贝尔加尔必须被移交给纽约警察局。这名多米尼加公民在警察靠近他的车辆时开枪，颈部受了轻伤。

穆林表示，在通话中，特朗普向马姆达尼暗示，鉴于他的犯罪记录，纽约警察局有足够的理由拘留他，但市长拒绝了。

穆林周五告诉记者：“他希望我们把这个人放回街头。如果纽约警察局想要受理并继续追究此案，我们很乐意将他移交给纽约警察局。我已经把这件事告诉了市长。市长再次表示，我们不会拘留他。”

穆林还表示，他与纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔进行了交谈。

据美国移民及海关执法局执法和遣返行动执行副主任马科斯·查尔斯称，贝尔加尔曾因枪击一名海关和边境保护局特工而受到国土安全部的调查，并且是“以持械盗窃而闻名”的团伙成员。查尔斯还补充说，贝尔加尔此前曾在9月份逃避过联邦移民特工的追捕。

马姆达尼告诉特朗普和穆林，他提议由纽约警察局主导对这起事件的调查。只要联邦特工当晚离开事发区域，纽约警察局就会接手调查。

特朗普向马姆达尼施压，要求纽约警察局逮捕贝尔加尔，但马姆达尼不为所动。

一位熟悉谈话内容的消息人士告诉 CNN，没有逮捕令就拘留贝尔加尔是没有法律依据的。

“警方没有发出逮捕令，纽约警察局也没有法律依据拘留他，”该人士表示。

此后谈判破裂。

“市长态度很友好，但不切实际，”穆林周五在福克斯新闻上说道。

市长的助手们认为，他与总统的关系已取得显著成效。尽管美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）加大了执法力度，但该机构并未像在密歇根州或明尼苏达州那样开展大规模行动。

马姆达尼抵达事件现场附近，举行了一场深夜新闻发布会，会上他指责美国移民及海关执法局“从骨子里就腐败透顶”。

“今天的枪击事件进一步令人痛心地证实了我们长期以来所知的事实：美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）肆意妄为，在我们的国家散播混乱和恐怖，他们杀害的邻居远远多于他们声称拯救的邻居，”马姆达尼说道。

周五上午的新闻发布会上，穆林将马姆达尼事件与纽约市的庇护政策联系起来，该政策限制了与联邦移民执法部门的合作。

美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）在纽约的行动已持续数月。据国土安全部称，7月下旬至8月下旬开展的一次移民执法行动逮捕了2100多人。穆林前往纽约宣布了这项名为“烂苹果行动”（Operation Rotten Apple）的行动成果，并对ICE特工表示赞扬，同时再次批评了马姆达尼和霍楚。

“在这次行动中，我们逮捕了杀人犯、强奸犯、恋童癖、毒贩和暴力袭击者。而且，我们是在没有得到市长马姆达尼和州长霍楚任何帮助的情况下完成的。特朗普政府致力于保护美国人民在每个城市和每个州的安全，我们绝不会让庇护城市的政客阻碍我们，”他说。

联邦数据显示，该州的逮捕人数在夏季有所增加。据“遣返数据项目”统计，5月份，美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）在纽约拘留了922人；6月份这一数字跃升至1190人；7月份则达到1552人。

CNN的凯特兰·柯林斯和阿莱娜·特里恩对本报道亦有贡献。