New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Saturday, October 31, 2026, that President Donald Trump agreed to grant a visa to the mother of a 15-year-old boy killed in a Bronx shooting. The mayor stated in a social media post that he spoke directly with the president regarding the case of Javits Frimpong, who died earlier in the week. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the phone call or the visa issuance.
Frimpong, an immigrant from Ghana, was shot in the abdomen around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 29, while walking to school in the Bronx. He was pronounced dead at a hospital later that day. According to U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), the teen had moved to New York one year ago to live with his father. New York City police reported that no arrests have been made and the investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.
The boy's father, Thomas Frimpong, described his son as a quiet student who had been bullied by two boys at school. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mayor Mamdani stated that Javits' mother deserved to say goodbye to her son in person. Ghana's Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa also thanked U.S. officials and noted that Ghanaian representatives in New York are coordinating with the mother to assist her with the visa application.
The scale of this action is limited to one household, yet it occurs against a backdrop of immigration restrictions that have limited entry for applicants from the 75 affected countries. For the Frimpong family, the immediate change is the removal of a legal barrier that would otherwise prevent the mother from entering the United States.
The intervention involves the direct involvement of the President and a major city mayor in an individual immigration case. The murder investigation continues under the jurisdiction of the New York City Police Department, and Ghanaian foreign ministry officials have stated they will work with U.S. authorities to seek justice in the shooting. No specific dates for the mother's arrival or the teen's funeral have been reported.