Mamdani Allies Clash Over Calls to Fire NYPD Chief

Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whom he appointed, after Darializa Avila Chevalier demanded that Tisch step down and the department’s Strategic Response Group be disbanded. The dispute followed ICE agents shooting a suspected gang member as he fled arrest in a car. The NYPD didn’t assist ICE with the immigration arrest, and the SRG didn’t respond to the protest.

“Abolish ICE, disband the SRG, fire Tisch,” DSA member and state Senate candidate Illapa Sairitupac wrote after Chevalier’s call. Those words landed in a political circle where Mamdani’s appointment and campaign pledge to dissolve the police unit now collide with pressure from socialist allies.

Who Gets to Call the Shots

Chevalier, a socialist House candidate whom Mamdani endorsed during the primaries, posted on social media last Friday. She accused Tisch and the NYPD of violating New York City’s sanctuary-city policies, which bar police from assisting ICE. “Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities,” she wrote.

She called for the SRG to be disbanded “as quickly as possible” and for Tisch to step down. Yet the department’s actions in the arrest didn’t match the accusation that the NYPD assisted ICE: the base facts say it didn’t. That distinction hasn’t stopped the clash over the commissioner’s role or the future of a police unit Mamdani pledged to dissolve during his campaign.

A source with knowledge of the matter said City Hall allies were angry about Chevalier’s social-media posts and public rhetoric. “City Hall was like, ‘what the f–k are you doing!’” the source said. Another described the remarks as “a direct undermining of Mamdani.” This isn’t just a dispute about words online; it’s about who gets to set the mayor’s line on police, immigration enforcement and protest.

Protest, Pressure and City Hall’s Worry

City Hall was also annoyed that Chevalier encouraged anti-ICE protests, sources said. They worried signs of disorder could give the Trump administration a reason to flood the streets. The concern emerged as Chevalier wrote about being pushed during an aggressive protest in Marble Hill Thursday night. Video showed her getting in a police supervisor’s face and accusing him of escalating the situation.

“She is throwing her own fireball rhetoric to rally the folks,” one source said. “But instigating doesn’t help.” The source’s words cast protest as a problem to manage, while Chevalier’s posts and the DSA’s demands show opposition to ICE and the police unit taking public form. The article reports no mutual-aid effort or self-organized community response; the visible response here is protest rhetoric and pressure on elected officials.

The NYC DSA chapter, whose leaders are close friends of the mayor, said Tisch should be fired if she couldn’t confront ICE. “Jessica Tisch must get ICE out of New York and end NYPD complicity with these terrorists,” the group wrote. “If the Commissioner can’t put a stop to these injustices, she must be fired.” The other two House candidates Mamdani endorsed, Brad Lander and Claire Valdez, didn’t make similar calls.

The Election Line and the Police Pledge

Mamdani faced demands from socialist allies and the national DSA chapter to remove Tisch and fulfill his campaign pledge to dissolve the SRG after avoiding the city’s press corps for days. He appointed Tisch despite his and his party’s outspoken criticism of Israel; the report describes Tisch as a Zionist Jew. Mamdani stood by her as those demands grew.

Chevalier and her team were working on a speech, potentially for Election Night or earlier, calling for Tisch to be fired. Sources said adviser Morris Katz persuaded Mamdani to endorse her, but he wasn’t a fan of hers. She was distancing herself from Mamdani, though most credited his backing and campaigning with helping her win the New York 13th Congressional primary in June, defeating incumbent Democrat Adriano Espaillat.

The 13th CD is overwhelmingly blue. The report said winning the Democratic line all but guarantees Chevalier’s victory in the general election next month. Yet campaign canvassers had strict instructions not to discuss Mamdani. Volunteers were told to say, “I can’t speak about the mayor, but I can tell you what Darializa is prioritizing.” One insider said, “They are sick of her, and she’s not even started in Congress.”