ICE Shooting in the Bronx Sparks Outrage Among Caribbean Immigrant Advocates

ICE agents shot a man in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of the Bronx, New York, with a five-year-old child in the vehicle. Caribbean immigrant advocates are demanding an investigation and accountability.

Caribbean Immigrant Groups Demand Accountability After ICE Opens Fire in Bronx Neighbourhood

A man was shot by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of the Bronx, New York, on Thursday, prompting swift condemnation from Caribbean immigrant advocacy groups, the Jamaica Observer reports.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed the shooting in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, noting that its officers were neither involved nor present at the time. "The individual who was shot is at a nearby hospital, and is currently conscious and receiving medical attention," the NYPD said.

Murad Awawdeh, President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), condemned the incident outright. "ICE's violent tactics are a clear danger to all New Yorkers, as today's shooting in a residential neighbourhood demonstrates," Awawdeh told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). He described the agency's enforcement methods as a threat to public safety and called for an immediate investigation, the release of body camera footage, and accountability for any agents who used excessive force. "We have seen the devastating consequences of ICE shootings from Minnesota to Texas, which have led to the unnecessary deaths of too many community members," he said. "We must abolish ICE and strengthen the safety of all New Yorkers."

Yaritza Mendez, Deputy Director of Make the Road New York, said the shooting was disturbing but not unexpected. "For the past year and a half ICE has been given a green light by this administration to assault and murder immigrants and those who are standing up for our communities," she told CMC. Mendez accused the Trump administration of arming the agency with an "unlimited budget in service of a xenophobic agenda." She added: "The violence is the point. Terrorising our families is the point."

Mendez also cited reports that the man was inside a vehicle with a five-year-old child in the back seat when agents opened fire — a detail later confirmed by New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. "We believe the child was physically unharmed. This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation," Mamdani said. He stated he had contacted President Trump directly and intended to demand that all ICE enforcement actions in the city be halted.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said residents of Marble Hill had been raising concerns about a heightened ICE presence in their community for several months. "To meet its mass deportation targets, the Trump administration is rushing thousands of new agents onto our streets with little to no training, giving them free rein and a mandate to terrorise our communities," he said.

The NYIC said more than two dozen people have been shot by federal immigration officers over the past year, many while inside their vehicles, and that six of those individuals have died as a result of those incidents.

Source: Jamaica Observer